The two-time Patriots Super Bowl champion takes a look at the play that ESPN has tried to create with Drake Mays.
Twice last week, Cam Newton called the Patriots “fool’s gold,” and when Drake Mays was asked about it in his weekly WEEI interview, the Patriots quarterback shrugged it off, saying he had not heard the criticism and was not aware of what show Newton was on.
Stephen A. Smith took great offense to this, calling Mays a liar and declaring that everyone knows “First Take” is the No. 1 sports morning show, even though Newton is not a full-time panelist there.
On “The Patriots Report” with Chris Price, former Patriots wideout Chris Hogan criticized ESPN for its actions.
“At what point did it become the norm to try to humiliate a (23-year-old) kid who is now in his second year in the league?” Hogan asked. “He really didn’t have any opportunities (as a rookie) and he wasn’t on a great team, but now he’s having some success and it’s like, ‘No, no, no, let’s just finish him off.’ Because he didn’t – ‘I don’t even know what show he’s on’ and it really stirred up all these people in their feelings about it.
“Like man, nobody (expletive) cares! I get it. I’ll turn it on and I know it’s entertaining and all that kind of stuff, but this kid is (23) years old. He’s got a 10-2 football team. He’s having some success. He’s not watching First Take on Monday or Tuesday morning!”
Hogan took issue with Newton in particular, as he played quarterback in the NFL for 11 years. Hogan believes the 2015 MVP should know better than to engage in “nonsense”.
“The kid’s going to bed at 8:00, he’s up any time, he’s watching film and preparing for the game. Cam, you know that,” Hogan said. “You prepared. You did all these things. Maybe you focused on some of these things here and there, but you were one of the best players in the league. You didn’t care about any of the bullshit.”
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