Cam Newton’s game against the Miami Dolphins was clean: no turnovers, two rushing touchdowns and a 79 completion percentage. Newton’s exit from the field, however, got messy.
After the final snap of the New England Patriots’ 21-11 win over the Dolphins in Week 1, the quarterback got into a scuffle with a few of his opponents. At first, linebacker Kyle Van Noy began to shove Newton. Then as he exited the field, linebacker Elandon Roberts appeared to prod further, with Newton attempting to walk away and Roberts grabbing his arm. Newton swatted Roberts away. That’s when defensive Christian Wilkins reached out and grabbed Newton by the chain.
“I still got my chain. I got two of them,” Newton said on a videoconference call after the game Sunday. “You can see now. They were reaching for my chain, though. They were reaching for my chain. And I think that kind of got up under my skin, but yet, through it all, I do not want nothing to be taken away from a great team game that we did have and I don’t want to be selfish to kind of focus or dwell on that. I think for us as a team or me personally, you know, a lot of tempers can flare and I was just teasing with coaches letting them know that College Park [Georgia] almost came out of me.”
Here’s the video for you when the chain was pulled off his neck and you can see it fall from Cam Newton hands. I would be pissed too 🤷🏾♂️ pic.twitter.com/amWYoZ0zGP
— Edwin C. (DJ Bebo) (@ItsBeboBtchs) September 13, 2020
Newton downplayed the dustup after the game. That said, he couldn’t help but playfully throw some shade at Wilkins.
“It was a competitive game on both side. You just have to realize who we’re talking to and just keep everything in the game. I realize I was talking to a person that’s known for doing splits,” Newton said, referencing when Wilkins went viral for doing a split at Clemson. “So it wasn’t characteristic of myself to keep going back and forth. … So I don’t disrespect nobody and I wouldn’t want anybody to disrespect me, but yet at the end of the day we got the thing that was most valuable today and that’s the win.”
