It reads a bit differently when you read the whole thing and not just pull a line out.
"I've been on record to say I'm a sore loser,'' Newton said Tuesday as players cleaned out their lockers. "Who likes to lose? You show me a good loser and I'm going to show you a loser. It's not a popularity contest. I'm here to win football games.''
Newton said if he offended anyone, "that's cool."
He added: "But I know who I am and I'm not about to conform nor bend for anybody's expectations because your or anybody else's expectations will never exceed mine."
Newton hasn't spoken to the media in his previous four seasons on exit day, but he felt compelled to talk Tuesday amid the criticism. He said there were no regrets about how he handled himself after the loss.
"It happened,'' he said. "I didn't want to talk to the media at the time. The truth of the matter is I really still don't want to talk to the media. But at the end of the day, things have to happen.
"I had a lot of time to go back and play everything back. I'm human. I never once said that I was perfect. I never proclaimed that I was perfect, but at the end of the day, people pick and do things of that sort.''