A two-time Patriots Super Bowl champion is rolling his eyes at the drama ESPN has tried to manufacture with Drake Maye.
Twice last week, Cam Newton called the Patriots “fool’s gold,” and when Drake Maye was asked about that in his weekly WEEI interview, the Patriots quarterback brushed it off, saying he hadn’t heard the criticism and was unaware of what show Newton was on.
Stephen A. Smith took great umbrage with this, calling Maye a liar and declaring that everybody knows “First Take” is the No. 1 sports morning show, even though Newton isn’t a full-time panelist there.
On “The Patriots Report” with Chris Price, former Patriots wideout Chris Hogan ripped into the ESPN talking heads for their actions.
“At what point did it become just the norm to try to tear down a (23)-year-old kid who is now in his second year in the league?” Hogan asked. “Didn’t really have an opportunity (as a rookie) and was not on a great team, but now he’s having some success and ‘no, no, no, let’s just tear him down.’ Because he didn’t — ‘I don’t even know what show he’s on’ and that really got all these guys all hot in their feelings about it.
“Like dude, no one (expletive) cares! I get it. I’ll turn it on and I know it’s entertaining and all this kind of stuff, but this kid is (23) years old. He’s got a 10-2 football team. He’s been having some success. He’s not watching First Take on Monday or Tuesday mornings!”
Hogan took issue with Newton in particular, given he played quarterback in the NFL for 11 years. Hogan believes the 2015 MVP should know better than to engage in “nonsense.”
“The kid is going to bed at 8:00, he’s waking up at whatever time, he’s watching film and preparing for a game. Cam, you know this,” Hogan said. “You prepared. You did all of this stuff. Maybe you focused on some of this stuff here and there, but you were one of the best players in the league. You didn’t care about any of that nonsense.”
