Cam Newton jokes that media should be fined for bad predictions:

Cam Newton spoke to the media on Wednesday, just like every other quarterback in the league, and the quarterback of the surprising 5-0 Carolina Panthers took a little time to throw a couple of jabs the media’s way.

Newton was asked if he ever finds it comical, “the way that a lot of these people think that, hey this team’s alright, this team’s good?” Clearly Cam took “these people” to mean the media, and went on to talk about how he finds all media comical at times, and went on to suggest that perhaps the media should be fined, or payed based upon the accuracy of their prognostication.

“No offense, but I find all media comical at times,” Newton said. “I think your guys’ profession, you can easily take back what you say. There’s no danger when somebody says it. … If it was a pay cut or if it was an incentive, if picking teams each and every week you may get a raise, I guarantee it, people would watching what they say then.

“They should have an incentive if you make a bold statement if you’re correct, you get an x-amount increase. But if you make a bold statement and it goes the other way, you get deducted. Going straight to the Cam Newton Foundation.”

Newton was subsequently asked if he may one day find himself on the media side of things the way many ex-athletes do, and Newton answered quickly indicating that he never expects to be commenting on sports in his future.

“No sir. No sir. I’m not a media guy,” Newton explained. “I don’t want my face to be on TV a lot.”

But Cam, as one reporter pointed out, will be hosting a show on Nickelodeon next year.

“Yeah, but not commentating,” Newton replied. “I’m not a commentator type of guy. Kids, I do that all day. Hell, I’m a kid.”

Newton’s comments were certainly a little tongue in cheek, and it’s likely he wouldn’t want guys to get docked if he knew what some of the guys in that room make. It’s cute to suggest that the media should have to pay for being wrong, but it’s also a little silly. That’s a kin to a reporter suggesting that Newton should be fined for misreading coverage.

Ben Roethlisberger and Tyrod Taylor throwing at practice:

With the exception of both teams waiting for the return of their starting quarterbacks, the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers situations could not seem to be much more different right now.

The Bills have lost two of their last three games, and barely escaped Nashville with a one-point victory over the Titans in Week 5.  The Steelers on the other hand, have found a way to win their last two, with back-up quarterbacks after a disappointing overtime loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 4.

Pittsburgh is eagerly awaiting the return of Ben Roethlisberger, as that will drastically change the dynamic of Pittsburgh’s offense. As good as Landry Jones looked in last week’s comeback victory over the Arizona Cardinals, it was his first NFL action, and you never want to rely on a guy with that little experience when trying to make a playoff push.  The other option is Michael Vick, who can’t run an NFL offense right now.

On the flip side, the Bills are still trying to figure out what they have, and what to expect from Taylor. In his situation, he’s probably a lot more eager to get back than the team is to have him back.

Unlike Roethlisberger, Taylor is not yet considered one of the league’s top quarterbacks, and hasn’t really even cemented himself as the Bills starter. There was some speculation that E.J. Manuel could have had a chance to hold onto the position had he played well enough this past Sunday.

Patriots provide first big test for Todd Bowles:

With the exception of a clunker of a 24-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the New York Jets have been pretty impressive on their way to a 4-1 start in new head coach Todd Bowles’ first season at the helm.

However, as Bowles fully understands, the way he and any Jets coach will be judged while Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are still in New England, is how his team plays when facing the seemingly 100-time defending AFC East Champion Patriots.

No, the Patriots haven’t actually won the AFC East 100 times in a row, but it sure feels like it. For Bowles to ultimately be successful, the Jets will have to find a way to beat the Patriots. Not on Sunday, or every now and then the way Rex Ryan did, but consistently.

Forget about being competitive, or like Ryan, always playing the Patriots close. Bowles needs to find a way to knock down the giant in the division if he hopes to find the kind of success Jets fans have been searching for, for over a decade.

Darrelle Revis spoke to the media on Wednesday, and while he tried to downplay the game, there’s no question there’s a lot more talk about the importance of this win in the Jets locker room than Revis is letting on.

“As big as you want it to be. For us, it’s still early in the season,” Revis said. “We’re still trying to get better and better each week. It is a big game because it is a conference game, but at the same time it’s still early in the season. We’re trying to get better as a team. Whoever is on the schedule that week is who we’ve got to play and who we have to go up against.”

While Revis may have downplayed the fact that it’s Jets vs. Patriots this weekend, he wasn’t hesitant to mention why this should be a very interesting game to watch.

“They’ve been playing lights out on offense and we’ve been playing lights out on defense,” Revis explained. “It’s the number one offense versus the number one defense. It should be very exciting, it should be fun. I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be a fun matchup.”

The Jets could be without nickel cornerback Buster Skrine on Sunday, who is going through the league’s concussion protocol, and Bowles knows that could be an issue with as much movement and as many formations as the Patriots employ.

“They move them all around,” Bowles said. “We just have to have the next guy step up, whether it’s Marcus, whether it’s Dex (Dexter McDougle), whether it’s (Darrin) Walls, we just have to have the other guys step up. We’re confident in the guys we have. Injuries are going to happen. They just have to step up and play.”

Beating Tom Brady is something few have seemed to figure out, so the New York media wanted to find out from Bowles if he thought beating a Brady led team was more of a battle of wit, or of physicality.

“Like you said, he’s seen it all. It’s just about our guys making plays or their guys making plays,” Bowles explained. “It’s not so much a battle of wits. They know us pretty well. We have a lot of guys on this team that’s played them quite a bit so they know them pretty well. If their guys make plays, they’re going to win. If our guys make plays, we’re going to win.”

While Bowles didn’t use the word, it’s physicality. When teams have slowed or beaten the Patriots offense, they’ve done so because they’ve gotten pressure in Tom Brady’s face. While Brady can seemingly do a lot things that many quarterbacks cannot, no quarterback performs well with pressure in their face.

If the Jets are going to take down the Patriots in Bowles first huge test, it will be because they find a way to get to Brady, because as good as this Jets defense is, nobody shuts down the Patriots without a ferocious pass rush.