First Call: Antonio Brown's ‘night vision’ practice, Cam Newton moving the needle with Patriots

Tuesday’s “First Call” features Antonio Brown’s night vision with the Washington Redskins’ quarterback. Cam Newton’s new home in New England. And a little jab at the Patriots latest cheating controversy.

New Newton

Want a look at Cam Newton as a Patriot?

Yeah. Me neither. Here it is anyway. Via the EA Sports Madden video game.

Cam Newton in his Patriots uniform on @EAMaddenNFL @brgridironpic.twitter.com/jW0QlAV5Va

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 29, 2020

Yuck! It kinda feels like they have a chance to make the playoffs again all of a sudden, doesn’t it? Newton is already making videos saying goodbye to North Carolina and hello to New England.

So it’s real.

And his former Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera is bullish on the move.

“Don’t bet against him,” Rivera said on 670 The Score. “He’s felt the pressure. He felt the pressure of being the No. 1 overall pick. He felt the pressure of having won the Heisman Trophy and being the No. 1 overall pick. He felt the pressure of being a black quarterback, with all the stuff that’s been heaped on him.

“He’s really had to find his way through it, and he’s done a great job with it.”

Night-vision Big Chest

Speaking of Rivera, he’s now with the Washington Redskins.

And he recently tried to pull the plug on those rumors about his team’s interest in former Steelers star receiver Antonio Brown.

But A.B. keeps working out with Rivera’s quarterback Dwayne Haskins. So much so that they are doing it at night now.

Dwayne Haskins and Antonio Brown’s chemistry has reached Running Routes In The Dark levels pic.twitter.com/PjzjnqSpMp

— Pete Hailey (@PeteHaileyNBCS) June 27, 2020

Did A.B. just pull off the “Tony Toe Tap”move with night vision goggles? That’s surely some “expertalism” right there!

Where were we?

Back to Newton for a moment, did you see how his signing with the Patriots impacted gambling odds?

Here are some numbers from Betonline.ag.

• The Patriots Super Bowl odds went from 28/1 to 25/1

• The Patriots conference odds are unchanged at 12/1

• The Patriots division odds went from 17/10 (+170) to being tied with the Bills at 13/10 (+130)

• Cam Newton’s MVP odds went from 100/1 to 40/1

Makes sense. Even with Newton coming on board, the Patriots aren’t likely to do much beyond win the AFC East again.

But they are definitely much more likely to do that.

Also, Newton’s MVP odds were only 100/1 before signing with New England? That’s it?

One for the road?

Want one more Patriots entry? Sure, why not? We are in day 100,000 of no sports. So we are light.

As you may have heard, the Pats had to pay $1.1 million in a fine plus lose a third-round draft choice for filming the Cincinnati Bengals sideline from the press box in Cleveland last year. New England had an independent television crew that filmed the Bengals’ sideline ahead of the team’s December matchup last season.

They were claiming to be there gathering footage for a feature piece about being a scout for the team.

Are we at all surprised?

BREAKING: NFL has fined Patriots $1 million, punished with loss of draft pick for illegally filming Bengals during 2019 season. https://t.co/w7SYtAotpz

— NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) June 29, 2020

Nope. The only surprise is that they bothered taping the awful Bengals.