You always think your empire/dynasty is going to end differently, but the past is always prologue.
To be fair, the product wasn’t competitive this year either, so at least we’ll have continuity there.The team should be focused on the draft and FA, instead they are going to be scrambling to rebuild an entire org. I'm not optimistic they can do that on the fly while building a competitive product for next year.
If you believe Graff’s piece in The Athletic, Bill is largely responsible for Mac’s fall-off:It’s 90% Mac Jones’ fault.
He goes on to say Welker has been shut out from Gillette since 2013–including no pictures of him at all in the building with everyone else—because Bill has never buried the hatchet with him over how 2013 ended.The way the New England defense played down the stretch of a lost season showed Belichick can still coach. He has an unrivaled knowledge of the game, and his defensive game plans, even in a horrible 2023 season, continue to thwart opposing offenses.
But Belichick long thought he could win with simply average quarterback play, even after working with Brady for so long. If the QB avoided major mistakes, Belichick figured the team would be good enough on defense and special teams to contend. But Belichick’s most costly blunder came at the game’s most important position.
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After an impressive rookie campaign from Jones that saw him earn a Pro Bowl nod, Belichick had to make some changes following offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ departure to Las Vegas. Belichick made Judge the quarterbacks coach but used Patrcia as the primary offensive play caller.
Under their tutelage, Jones fell apart. His confidence took a hit as his numbers dipped, dropping from 7.3 yards per attempt and 22 touchdowns in 2021 to 6.8 yards per attempt and just 14 touchdowns in 2022. He was frustrated with the coaching he was getting and sought outside opinions, something that angered Belichick.
In the offseason, Belichick wasn’t willing to bury the hatchet. Instead of building up his young quarterback for a bounceback, the coach went out of his way to avoid any positive remarks about Jones. Belichick was upset that, in his eyes, Jones had disrespected his coaching that year by seeking opinions from outside the building and complaining openly on the field.
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The Bill Belichick-Mac Jones rift is real — and it's hard to blame either side
So Belichick didn’t commit to him publicly. He let Jones’ top wide receiver, Jakobi Meyers, leave in free agency so he could sign Smith-Schuster. When asked specifically in March if Jones was the starting quarterback, Belichick only said, “Everybody will get a chance to play.”
The move confused many within the building. They’d used a first-round pick on Jones. Then, just two years later, Belichick couldn’t be bothered to confirm Jones was the quarterback?
Instead of motivating Jones, the move knocked the confidence of an already-shaken quarterback. Coupled with a shaky offensive line and wide receivers who struggled to create separation, Jones was a mess. His mechanics fell apart. He didn’t trust his reads and he panicked under pressure. He finished 2023 with 6.1 yards per attempt, 10 touchdowns and 12 interceptions and now seems likely to head elsewhere this offseason, a remarkable downfall from the promise of his rookie season.
This is also the right approach, contra Tennessee’s owner, who answered softballs thrown by the team’s in-house reporter in a recorded interview. Kraft owns the team and drove this decision, so he gets to take the bullets.Robert coming back out at 2:00 for questions.
I say this in the nicest way.... Chad Graff has proven time and again he's the least competent writer NE has ever seen, not sure how he got that job after leaving MN but I assume it's because he'd work cheap, he has no idea how the salary cap works, he doesn't have any scheme knowledge, he doesn't know basic stuff, he's garbage.I said it in another thread but the time for Bill to hang it up was after 2021. Team was in a solid place and even if the same trajectory took place with Mac and the offense, it would’ve been blamed not on Belichick but him leaving. But coaches gonna coach.
If you believe Graff’s piece in The Athletic, Bill is largely responsible for Mac’s fall-off:
He goes on to say Welker has been shut out from Gillette since 2013–including no pictures of him at all in the building with everyone else—because Bill has never buried the hatchet with him over how 2013 ended.
Assuming this is at least partly true—and I think it is—it’s more Bill’s fault than anyone else’s – by a lot. For my part, I would’ve been happy having Bill coach until he died. But it isn’t a particularly hard to envision what Graff and others are saying is essentially true: that as the coaches (and players like Brady) Bill trusted left or retired instead of replacing them he increasingly relied on his own instincts and the shrinking number of people who shared them. It’s completely natural and maybe a bit harder, as Graff suggests, for someone who is an introvert.
Mac is a terrible QB who would have failed anywhere other than maybe in the SF offense. The narrative that the patriots ruined him is idiotic. He has no tangible talentYeah, Mac was bad at the end stages of 2021 and then couldn't handle adversity at all. The league adjusted and Mac couldn't.
Kraft should buy the Sox. Accountability is good!This is also the right approach, contra Tennessee’s owner, who answered softballs thrown by the team’s in-house reporter in a recorded interview. Kraft owns the team and drove this decision, so he gets to take the bullets.
Mac is responsible for his own play. BB doesn't openly praise many players until they earn it.I said it in another thread but the time for Bill to hang it up was after 2021. Team was in a solid place and even if the same trajectory took place with Mac and the offense, it would’ve been blamed not on Belichick but him leaving. But coaches gonna coach.
If you believe Graff’s piece in The Athletic, Bill is largely responsible for Mac’s fall-off:
He goes on to say Welker has been shut out from Gillette since 2013–including no pictures of him at all in the building with everyone else—because Bill has never buried the hatchet with him over how 2013 ended.
Assuming this is at least partly true—and I think it is—it’s more Bill’s fault than anyone else’s – by a lot. For my part, I would’ve been happy having Bill coach until he died. But it isn’t a particularly hard to envision what Graff and others are saying is essentially true: that as the coaches (and players like Brady) Bill trusted left or retired instead of replacing them he increasingly relied on his own instincts and the shrinking number of people who shared them. It’s completely natural and maybe a bit harder, as Graff suggests, for someone who is an introvert.
Mac's snotty little presser at the end of the year saying he worked soooooooo hard and thus should have started should forever end the discussion about his worthiness as an NFL QB.Mac is responsible for his own play. BB doesn't openly praise many players until they earn it.
“But Captain Kirk, er, William Shatner, did actually go to space — last year, aboard a capsule piloted by Jeff Bezos's company Blue Origin. Shatner details his experiences in his new memoir Boldly Go.I feel like I actually understand that I'm really going to die someday, in a non-abstract way, for the first time.
I was not expecting that level of effect.
Honestly, not much to say that I haven't already, but Jonathan has been effectively running the day to day operations of the entire Patriots organization (with the obvious exception of football decisions) for over a decade. Bob has basically been a fan and a figure head, which is fine, but I'm not worried about Jonathan, unless he decides to mettle in the day to day operations of the team itself, and there is no evidence that he has any interest or time to do so. Him and his father will decide on the next coach, GM and then we'll go from there, but from a business/organizational standpoint, it's awfully hard to argue with what he and Robert have done since they took over. Multi Billion dollar companies take a lot to run, even if they are a football team. The Revolution, the real estate, the employees, Patriot Place, and on and on and on...That's all been Jonathan for a long time.Oh I’m happy to engage with Greg on that one!! Depends on your preference and approach but I am not a fan.
Snipped this piece as it's my only reaction.I feel physically ill.
Okay, one more. I'm only on page 3, and I'm done. I can't do this today. I think I'll just go into denial mode for a while and focus on other shit.This is a mistake. And it sucks.
Yeah, it was a logical response. He's had complete power for 20 years, taking it away from him at this point with his fingerprints all over the organization probably just wasn't tenable.Robert says they talked about Bill reliquishing some power but in the end he didn't think it would work and would only create confusion.
Highlights?What an outstanding job by RKK in this presser. Outstanding. The Patriots are in good hands.
This is a good point, even if they retain a number of scouts and other staff, the new coach / GM are going to have to sort through all of the personnel and figure out who they want to listen to and work in all the new people they may bring in, and they may not really be able to get going until . Whereas BB could be spending three months figuring out what he wants to do had he stayed on.The team should be focused on the draft and FA, instead they are going to be scrambling to rebuild an entire org. I'm not optimistic they can do that on the fly while building a competitive product for next year.
Yeah I’m traveling and couldn’t watch the Q&A. Anyone with highlights from it?Highlights?
They are pretty behind the 8ball already, this could turn very messy if they don't start to get going.Says he hasn't given much thought to the org structure yet. Last few days were focused on the split with Bill.
No real different than any team that is going thru coach/GM changes.They are pretty behind the 8ball already, this could turn very messy if they don't start to get going.
I don’t care for Graff’s work either and didn’t share the article.I say this in the nicest way.... Chad Graff has proven time and again he's the least competent writer NE has ever seen, not sure how he got that job after leaving MN but I assume it's because he'd work cheap, he has no idea how the salary cap works, he doesn't have any scheme knowledge, he doesn't know basic stuff, he's garbage.
Also, Mac's falloff was because Mac is a mediocre QB who can't handle adversity at all
And yet this one paragraph really nails it for me.I say this in the nicest way.... Chad Graff has proven time and again he's the least competent writer NE has ever seen, not sure how he got that job after leaving MN but I assume it's because he'd work cheap, he has no idea how the salary cap works, he doesn't have any scheme knowledge, he doesn't know basic stuff, he's garbage.
Most inside the Patriots organization believe the game has not passed Belichick by. He still knows how to coach, still loves to teach and still knows how to build a game plan as well as anyone. It’s that the organizational structure, his roster construction and his leadership methods are outdated and have allowed the rest of the league to overtake the Patriots. Belichick was always willing to change on the football field, trying different schemes and styles. But he hasn’t changed who he is or how he functions.
Bruschi said on ESPN that we will never see another coach with BB’s personal style because now everything is about relationships and collaboration and the players feeling included in the decision making processes.And yet this one paragraph really nails it for me.
Kinda same for BourqueWherever BB goes --- I immediately become a fan.
I (somewhat) liken this to seeing Bird coaching the Pacers...I was always rooting for Larry no matter what.
The same for BB.
This is basically what lots of us here have thought. The guy is fantastic at coaching still, it’s the rest of the job that he’s fallen behind on. I wonder how much of all this is due to the absolute brain drain we saw over the 2016-2021 period. Lots of those guys didn’t find success elsewhere, but the McDaniels/Caserios of the world were probably more valuable than I realized (Ernie Adams too of course, but I always assumed he was insanely valuable. Same with Dante)And yet this one paragraph really nails it for me.
Straw man? More like pure snark.
I don't know how old you are, but believe me, it can get A LOT worse than the last few years.
That said, the time may very well be right. I'm just not as sanguine as many seem to be about the speed of any return to relevance.
The team should be focused on the draft and FA, instead they are going to be scrambling to rebuild an entire org. I'm not optimistic they can do that on the fly while building a competitive product for next year.
I'm also old enough to remember when "the Patsies" were the punchline to any joke about NFL futility: The Stupor Bowl, the parade of guys - Ken Sims, Rich Camarillo, a stream of QBs who would have been at home in Cleveland...You always think your empire/dynasty is going to end differently, but the past is always prologue.
I remember Ditka guest starring on LA Law, probably a year or two after SB XX. He was on the stand doing a stereotypical Ditka rant and he yelled something like "If you want to be a loser, go and root for the Patriots."I'm also old enough to remember when "the Patsies" were the punchline to any joke about NFL futility: The Stupor Bowl, the parade of guys - Ken Sims, Rich Camarillo, a stream of QBs who would have been at home in Cleveland...
If Marciano's right, and the pre-BB past is prologue to the post-BB era, we won't see a lot of competitiveness next year. I'm with Bergs, not sanguine at all about finding a plug-and-play shortcut to relevance.
View: https://youtu.be/C1G-KoUttTs?si=muye-RKh0zZjE4Wx&t=360I remember Ditka guest starring on LA Law, probably a year or two after SB XX. He was on the stand doing a stereotypical Ditka rant and he yelled something like "If you want to be a loser, go and root for the Patriots."
I still remember that for some reason.
Ha! I got the wording wrong. Thanks for doing my research for me.
Because he hates the Jets. Because Aaron Rodgers. Because the Jets have a coach.And you know this how?
Huh…@JonasLGray
Forever thankful to Coach Belichick for the shot that launched my NFL career and for instilling a winning mindset that made us the best-prepared team every game. His football legacy is unmatched. A heartfelt thanks, Coach, and wishing you success in all that comes next.
I don't think he'd consider it, but I'd counter with:Because he hates the Jets. Because Aaron Rodgers. Because the Jets have a coach.