Patriots' Cam Newton: 'Not the Sexiest Thing' to Watch a QB Throw for 69 Yards

The New England Patriots have won four of their last five games to reemerge in the AFC playoff picture, but it hasn't always been pretty.

Cam Newton has thrown for a combined 153 yards over the last two weeks and has just five touchdown passes all season (though he's added 11 scores on the ground). Even if Cam isn't producing through the air the way some had hoped, the 2015 NFL MVP said on WEEI's The Greg Hill Show that he's more than happy as long as the Patriots are winning:

"I'll be the first person to tell you, it's not the sexiest thing to do. But the antidote to that is, when you win 45 to nothing, what more can you do? What you want me to substitute the score for personal benefit? ... It's not the sexiest thing to see a quarterback throw for 69 yards or rush for how many yards. But I think one thing that we did do as an offense, we had situational football that we hit home on."

Newton's performance as a passer has certainly been odd for most of the season. His completion percentage (66.7) is well above his career mark (60.0), and his yards per attempt (7.2) are right in line with his career average (7.3). However, Newton has struggled with ball placement in the red zone, and the Patriots lack difference-makers at the receiver spot. The Patriots rank 23rd in red-zone scoring percentage as a result.

Newton said he has been somewhat unfairly judged because his style of play is not similar to a Patrick Mahomes or Tom Brady.

"The appreciation of how I play the game is not the sexiest thing. I'll be the first person to tell you that," Newton said. "People are always comparing quarterbacks to quarterbacks, which is the right thing to do, but the style of play is completely different."

While that may be the case, Newton needs to be better as a passer in close windows for the Patriots to make the playoffs. Even if the battering ram quarterback has had some success, he's turned the ball over too often (nine interceptions) for it to be sustainable, and defenses don't respect New England's ability to throw the ball downfield.

Newton has proved to be a better passer in the past, and the Patriots will need a little more consistency from his arm down the stretch.