The head coach pushed back and said, ‘Yeah, I do not think I said I know everything I need to know about him. I do not think that is what I said. ”
Belichick conceded that a time would come for Stidham to possibly start.
“At some point he will get the chance to play with a good opportunity to prepare and play, and that will be a better evaluation,” Belichick said. “At what point it is, I do not know.”
So we know that Belichick is exactly in between and does not know everything there is to know about Stidham, while he also says that the idea that the Patriots would not necessarily find out more about the young QB by starting him against the Jets not.
Did Belichick just push you through the twisting cycle? Are you dizzy?
There is a cord between these positions, and Belichick stands on it with his arms crossed.
What exactly does this mean? And when will Stidham get that opportunity to play? There is no week 18 yet. The season with 17 games starts next year.
The Patriots may not know everything about Stidham because he has not started an NFL game yet. He has never undergone a week’s practice as the leading fullback. Instead, he takes on representatives of the scout team and imitates Sam Darnold. The Patriots can see Stidham throwing in practice. They can not see that he is offended.
So why is he not throwing himself there against the Jets? Belichick said Newton gives the Patriots the best chance of winning, and New England is not going to give up, whether it’s Week 1, Week 17 or the Super Bowl.
But why does Belichick say the Patriots could not necessarily learn anything by putting Stidham on the field this week with that full week’s practice against the Jets? The Patriots have been leading Newton’s offense all season with weapons that MMQB’s Albert Breer rightly said would not start for two college teams this weekend. Stidham have not given enough spark to light a lighthouse in five emergency loans this season, and starting him in a new offense with the same old receivers will still not put him in a favorable situation. A start is a step to get halfway through the third quarter in a game. But it is still not a legal appearance.
The way the Patriots have handled Stidham all season is strange in its least way. They liked Stidham enough to be willing to enter the season with him as an appetizer until early July when they officially signed Newton. And they have signed Newton without seeing Stidham practice since January. Stidham only attended virtual meetings when the Patriots pulled Newton on the trigger.
Stidham failed his audition for starting early in the camp by throwing selections, getting hurt and then attacking behind Newton and Brian Hoyer to start the season. Still, Stidham was kept on the list.
After Stidham played slightly better than Hoyer in this week’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, he stepped up to the backup role and has held it ever since.
So, the Patriots liked Stidham enough to consider him an appetizer, keep him in the team and put him back on the depth map, but not enough to even go to training camp with him, or to to ever start him.
As for the event that Belichick indicated, it may just be the preseason that Belichick is referring to. Stidham would definitely get the opportunity to prepare to play in a pre-season game. Belichick never said anything that Stidham started.
It still does not make sense to start Newton on Sunday. The Patriots definitely know what they have in him. But perhaps there’s a reason Belichick believes it no longer makes sense to give Stidham his first start.
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