Things got a little contentious in the closing seconds of the Patriots Week 1 win over the Dolphins. Cam Newton appeared to get into a jawing match with a number of Dolphins players as New England approached their 21-11 victory and the quarterback noted postgame that they were trying to rip off his chain. Newton then appeared on WEEI's "The Greg Hill Show" on Monday morning and explained why he took offense to that and what those chains actually represent, which paints a much clearer picture as to why he would be upset.
"From where I am from, that's just a sign of disrespect," he said. "I am all about keeping everything within the confines of the game. Good thing I went to a good jeweler and got the credentials. They didn't do too much damage."
Newton added: "On a serious note, it is a chain that has all of my children and their birthstone on it. You could only imagine for all the fathers that's out there any type of sign disrespect for that chain. I don't wear chains to represent my hood, which I should. I don't wear chains with thug life on it, Superman, or things like that.
"I'm not a big person of tattoos, so I try and get anything that commemorates something that's dear to my life on something that I can wear. It's truly dear to me. So the chain that they tried to pull was the one that had each and every child that I have and their birthstones."
Newton said after the game that he "was just teasing with coach, just letting him know that the College Park almost came out in me" when the incident was going down. When asked what Bill Belichick's reaction was to what transpired on the field on Monday, Newton noted: "Let's just say Bill was Bill."
Newton's debut was certainly a headliner producer on a number of different levels. As it relates to his on-field performance, he played well and was particularly strong with his feet -- rushing for two touchdowns and leading the team with 75 yards on the ground. He also completed 15 of his 19 passes on the day. While every game likely won't be as chippy as Sunday's opener was, Newton will look to build off his strong debut when the Patriots travel to Seattle to take on the Seahawks in Week 2.
