This is now: BB and the direction of the Patriots

[tims4wins]

I think with Brissett you might have another win or two. Nothing dramatic. The upside would be that you'd clearly be in rebuild mode, we wouldn't have to watch Mac and suffer the aggravation and Bill would look a little more competent for having had a decent contingency plan. As it is, it looks like a hack job.

Yeah I think with Brissett Mac doesn’t survive starting after the back to back blowouts and I’d give them 2 more wins. They might have won all of Vegas, Washington, and Indy but I can’t say that they would have done that and also beat Buffalo. So, I think saying they’d be 4-6 would be more realistic. And obviously being 2-8 is better for the long run.

But in terms of building the most competitive team possible for this year - which is/was Bill’s assignment - not having a competent backup was a failure in that department.

 

[Petagine in a Bottle]

Come on, Mac is bad but he’s better than Hugh Millen (5-15 for the Pats), Tommy Hodson (1-11), Marc Wilson (1-9), or Scott Secules (0-4).

 

[tims4wins]

Even if you assume Brissett could've gotten you another win or two(I'm doubtful), do you want another win or two in rebuild mode? And have spent another 8M or more you can't spend in the future?

I don't think it makes much sense in the short term, or long term.

Not now, but did anyone say / think they were in long term tank / rebuild mode coming into the year? That would be revisionist history. Even the most pessimistic fans had them at 5-6 wins primarily due to the schedule.

 

[8slim]

Come on, Mac is bad but he’s better than Hugh Millen (5-15 for the Pats), Tommy Hodson (1-11), Marc Wilson (1-9), or Scott Secules (0-4).

I believe that anyone who can name Pats QBs of the late 80s/early 90s off the top their head gets carte blanche to criticize this franchise.

 

[axx]

But in terms of building the most competitive team possible for this year - which is/was Bill’s assignment - not having a competent backup was a failure in that department.

I think in Bill's mind it was Mac or Bust.

 

[luckiestman]

Come on, Mac is bad but he’s better than Hugh Millen (5-15 for the Pats), Tommy Hodson (1-11), Marc Wilson (1-9), or Scott Secules (0-4).

I thought Hugh had a couple good ones but I don’t remember it that well and I think the games were blacked out so had to listen on 103.7 or whoever had it

 

[Dogman]

BCN.

Try to forget Zolak, he was terrible.

 

[Ale Xander]

I believe that anyone who can name Pats QBs of the late 80s/early 90s off the top their head gets carte blanche to criticize this franchise.

I like this post

 

[mcpickl]

Not now, but did anyone say / think they were in long term tank / rebuild mode coming into the year? That would be revisionist history. Even the most pessimistic fans had them at 5-6 wins primarily due to the schedule.

No, because those people thought Mac would get back to being an average-ish QB or better with Bill O'Brien here instead of Matt Patricia. That obviously hasn't happened.

So again, how does Jacoby Brissett change that? And would you have been happy paying 8M+ for him at the beginning of the season, or would that be revisionist history to wish you had him now?

 

[luckiestman]

I like this post

Well, my great aunt was a diabetic and we used to make Humulin insulin jokes about his name, so I’m in the club.

 

[tims4wins]

No, because those people thought Mac would get back to being an average-ish QB or better with Bill O'Brien here instead of Matt Patricia. That obviously hasn't happened.

So again, how does Jacoby Brissett change that? And would you have been happy paying 8M+ for him at the beginning of the season, or would that be revisionist history to wish you had him now?

To be clear, I do not wish they had Brissett.

I am merely pointing out that they can’t even put in anyone else because the QB room is so fucking bad.


BB famously said they’ll never be the 2011 Colts - they’d never have a team so reliant on its QB. Putting aside the fact that they’re likely winning 4 or fewer games anyway, what would they look like if Mac went down week 1? I think I’d put money on 1-16 or so.

 

[Justthetippett]

Even if you assume Brissett could've gotten you another win or two(I'm doubtful), do you want another win or two in rebuild mode? And have spent another 8M or more you can't spend in the future?

I don't think it makes much sense in the short term, or long term.

In the long run, completely sucking this year will probably be to the franchise's benefit in terms of talent acquisition, but it's definitely called into question whether Bill should be around to see it through; and it's really a toss-up whether that leaves the team better off or not.

 

[8slim]

BCN.

Try to forget Zolak, he was terrible.

Zo strikes me as kind of guy who thinks he could have been as successful as Bledsoe if he just got the chance.

 

[NortheasternPJ]

To be clear, I do not wish they had Brissett.

I am merely pointing out that they can’t even put in anyone else because the QB room is so fucking bad.


BB famously said they’ll never be the 2011 Colts - they’d never have a team so reliant on its QB. Putting aside the fact that they’re likely winning 4 or fewer games anyway, what would they look like if Mac went down week 1? I think I’d put money on 1-16 or so.

I’m 100% with you and not over reacting it’s just reality. It’s amazing a BB coached team is so awful.

I’m back to wanting to see Cunningham lose the next 7 games vs watch Mac. At least it’d be entertaining.

 

[mcpickl]

To be clear, I do not wish they had Brissett.

I am merely pointing out that they can’t even put in anyone else because the QB room is so fucking bad.


BB famously said they’ll never be the 2011 Colts - they’d never have a team so reliant on its QB. Putting aside the fact that they’re likely winning 4 or fewer games anyway, what would they look like if Mac went down week 1? I think I’d put money on 1-16 or so.

Right, and I'm merely pointing out that it doesn't matter.

There aren't 32 good QBs in the league, let alone more than that so that there are good backups hanging around.

If your starter ends up not being good enough, it really doesn't matter if you have a guy like Brissett or Minshew around, because they aren't good enough either. They are just a different not good enough.

Like, the Colts and Washington are probably in the same general level of talent on their rosters as New England, does anyone think Indianapolis with Minshew or Washington with Brissett is going anywhere? Hell, Minshew barely survived Mac Jones today.

Edit: I mean, I looked back and you did say "He should have brought in a Brissett or Minshew type as a backup.", so I don't think it was that clear that you do not wish they had Brissett.

 

[Dogman]

Zo strikes me as kind of guy who thinks he could have been as successful as Bledsoe if he just got the chance.

He has had a decent broadcasting career so playing very poorly for the Patriots did pay off.

I'd love Cunningham too, it would not be boring.

 

[8slim]

To be clear, I do not wish they had Brissett.

I am merely pointing out that they can’t even put in anyone else because the QB room is so fucking bad.


BB famously said they’ll never be the 2011 Colts - they’d never have a team so reliant on its QB. Putting aside the fact that they’re likely winning 4 or fewer games anyway, what would they look like if Mac went down week 1? I think I’d put money on 1-16 or so.

That’s been my point about rolling with Zappe. What if Mac was actually really good this year? What if right now we were 7-3, but Mac got dinged up and was going to be out for 3-4 weeks? Bill thought Zappe would be totally fine to hold down the fort?!

 

[Andy Merchant]

BCN.

Try to forget Zolak, he was terrible.

How soon we forget the "Scott Zolak is a god" event that a Providence radio station (WHJY) had after they actually won a game in 1992. I was also at the game in the old stadium that year where he was the QB and Jon Vaughn was the offensive star of the game as they beat the Jets for their 2nd and final win of the season.

 

[NortheasternPJ]

Zo strikes me as kind of guy who thinks he could have been as successful as Bledsoe if he just got the chance.

I couldn’t disagree more. He knows his role was a career backup and doesn’t care from all that I’ve heard. I’ve never one heard him even mention he was screwed, should have been a starter. The only thing he complains about is this era he could have made 5x as much as a career backup.

 

[8slim]

I couldn’t disagree more. He knows his role was a career backup and doesn’t care from all that I’ve heard. I’ve never one heard him even mention he was screwed, should have been a starter. The only thing he complains about is this era he could have made 5x as much as a career backup.

Could be. He’s just such a goofy blowhard. Get a few beers in him and I could see a “if coach just put me in we coulda won states” monologue.

I do like Zo, of course.

 

[GPO Man]

I think Bill is back next year with a new QB. The Krafts realize Mac is the big problem and would give Bill the benefit of the doubt for this year. If the Pats don’t show a significant improvement in 2024, all bets are off. The defense is very good when healthy, and the offense is a decent QB and WR away from at least being respectable.

 

[pappymojo]

I think Bill is back next year with a new QB. The Krafts realize Mac is the big problem and would give Bill the benefit of the doubt for this year. If the Pats don’t show a significant improvement in 2024, all bets are off. The defense is very good when healthy, and the offense is a decent QB and WR away from at least being respectable.

I agree with most of this, but they need better OL play and better health.

 

[FL4WL3SS]

Here's the problem with having a young QB that can't play, as a coach, you end up spending a unbalanced amount of time with them and the rest of the offense suffers. How much coaching energy has Mac sucked up over the last 3 years? Probably quite a bit and we're seeing the rest of the offense potentially suffer. If your OC is spending extra time with your QB, then he's not spending time with other folks (and new additions). They obviously doubled down on Mac going into this season, hoping he'd take a step forward and bring some relief, but instead he's sucked the life out of the team.

This is the whole point about having another average QB, the coaches could focus on other things and the rest of the offense would benefit. It's a knock-on effect when your young QB sucks. I'm sure they were planning for him to not need to be babysat this year.

 

[BigJimEd]

I think with Brissett you might have another win or two. Nothing dramatic. The upside would be that you'd clearly be in rebuild mode,

I think that would make rebuild a lot murkier and more difficult.

Now they are clearly not in playoff contention and can go full rebuild and get the best possible pick.

 

[tims4wins]

Right, and I'm merely pointing out that it doesn't matter.

There aren't 32 good QBs in the league, let alone more than that so that there are good backups hanging around.

If your starter ends up not being good enough, it really doesn't matter if you have a guy like Brissett or Minshew around, because they aren't good enough either. They are just a different not good enough.

Like, the Colts and Washington are probably in the same general level of talent on their rosters as New England, does anyone think Indianapolis with Minshew or Washington with Brissett is going anywhere? Hell, Minshew barely survived Mac Jones today.

Edit: I mean, I looked back and you did say "He should have brought in a Brissett or Minshew type as a backup.", so I don't think it was that clear that you do not wish they had Brissett.

Right, I said it in terms of if BB was trying to build the best possible team for this year he should have signed a competent backup.

As @8slim points out in some alternate universe where Mac is actually good and the Pats are 7-3 but then he gets hurt, it seems pretty clear that they’d be fucked with Zappe at QB.

 

[j44thor]

Here's the problem with having a young QB that can't play, as a coach, you end up spending a unbalanced amount of time with them and the rest of the offense suffers. How much coaching energy has Mac sucked up over the last 3 years? Probably quite a bit and we're seeing the rest of the offense potentially suffer. If your OC is spending extra time with your QB, then he's not spending time with other folks (and new additions). They obviously doubled down on Mac going into this season, hoping he'd take a step forward and bring some relief, but instead he's sucked the life out of the team.

This is the whole point about having another average QB, the coaches could focus on other things and the rest of the offense would benefit. It's a knock-on effect when your young QB sucks. I'm sure they were planning for him to not need to be babysat this year.

Who's to blame for not hiring a separate QB coach? You can have nearly unlimited coaches in the NFL so if you choose to spend too much time on one aspect vs. another that is a team construction problem not a player problem. I'm pretty sure Troy Brown isn't spending a lot of time with Mac but he has his own hands full because his WRs don't know how to run routes all that well. Same can be said for Klemm and the OL which has players playing new positions across the majority of the line.
Mac sucks but blaming coaching hires flaming out on Mac is a bridge I can't cross.
Honestly it is hard to judge any of the offensive coaches because the talent level on this team is bottom 5 in the NFL at every offensive position minus RBs but they are so fungible it really doesn't matter.

 

[mcpickl]

Right, I said it in terms of if BB was trying to build the best possible team for this year he should have signed a competent backup.

As @8slim points out in some alternate universe where Mac is actually good and the Pats are 7-3 but then he gets hurt, it seems pretty clear that they’d be fucked with Zappe at QB.

As they would be with whichever veteran QB that you now would've wanted them to sign in hindsight, because they aren't good enough.

I promise, if Belichick spent money this offseason on a backup QB, when they had holes at receiver, and tackle, and tight end, you would've lost your mind. Lots of us would've.

But now that Mac has sucked this year, it's somehow become plainly obvious Belichick should've signed some Brissett type(but obviously not actually Brissett).

 

[tims4wins]

As they would be with whichever veteran QB that you now would've wanted them to sign in hindsight, because they aren't good enough.

I promise, if Belichick spent money this offseason on a backup QB, when they had holes at receiver, and tackle, and tight end, you would've lost your mind. Lots of us would've.

But now that Mac has sucked this year, it's somehow become plainly obvious Belichick should've signed some Brissett type(but obviously not actually Brissett).

I think it is indisputable that he left the QB room with quite literally zero playable options beyond Mac. Separating out that Mac sucks, and that a lot of the rest of the offense sucks, that’s not good GM’ing.

 

[mcpickl]

I think it is indisputable that he left the QB room with quite literally zero playable options beyond Mac. Separating out that Mac sucks, and that a lot of the rest of the offense sucks, that’s not good GM’ing.

I also think it's indisputable that he left the QB room with quite literally zero playable options beyond Mac, but I disagree with that being bad GMing.

That's the state of QBs in the league. If there were 60 or so good QBs out there, then yes you should probably have two.

There are probably less than 20, so I don't think it's wild that he doesn't have a good backup behind his bad starter.

 

[Jinhocho]

I also think it's indisputable that he left the QB room with quite literally zero playable options beyond Mac, but I disagree with that being bad GMing.

That's the state of QBs in the league. If there were 60 or so good QBs out there, then yes you should probably have two.

There are probably less than 20, so I don't think it's wild that he doesn't have a good backup behind his bad starter.

They knew if Mac played the way they hoped he would they were in good shape for a 10-7 team with a playoff berth. If he didnt, then they were fucked. They did not have the cap room to bring in a really good backup and Zappe was fine to keep developing. It was Mac or bust and they went bust because...Mac's a bust.

 

[Cellar-Door]

I think it is indisputable that he left the QB room with quite literally zero playable options beyond Mac. Separating out that Mac sucks, and that a lot of the rest of the offense sucks, that’s not good GM’ing.

I think it's in fact GOOD GM work. You need a QB to win in this league, and everyone agreed that one of the most important things to do this year was figure out if Mac was the guy, and if not get ready for how you find the guy.

Mac should have been expected to start all year if healthy to properly evaluate him. If he got injured... so what? Heineke or Brissett were the best options, what does that get you (if they'd even come here versus likely better chances to start elsewhere out of camp)... an outside chance at the last playoff spot if the defense is insanely good?

The current setup is in some ways perfect. You get to see Mac and show the owner he's not the guy, and you don't have some plucky vet to ruin your draft situation by getting you to 5-7 wins. The Patriots played it well. It sucks to watch as a fan, and maybe Bill will get himself fired, but long-term it is probably the smart GM move that gives you the best chance of a path to a star QB.

 

[tims4wins]

Yes, obviously it will work out better in the long run. That’s why I’m not upset in any way that they didn’t sign Brissett. But it is highly inconsistent with their approach in 2020 when they scraped for every possible win. We can’t say BB did a good job in 2020 but also a good job in 2023. That’s moving the goalposts. I guess we can say that HC BB did a good job in 2020.

But again, that’s the problem with all of this. You get the GM with the HC.

 

[Cellar-Door]

Yes, obviously it will work out better in the long run. That’s why I’m not upset in any way that they didn’t sign Brissett. But it is highly inconsistent with their approach in 2020 when they scraped for every possible win. We can’t say BB did a good job in 2020 but also a good job in 2023. That’s moving the goalposts. I guess we can say that HC BB did a good job in 2020.

But again, that’s the problem with all of this. You get the GM with the HC.

I don't know that this year is any different in GM approach than 2020.. they signed Cam Newton for nothing to see if he could be the guy again coming back from injuries. The backups were scrubs. Bill is never going to coach to do anything but win, and no other coach will either. But Bill the GM has actually been pretty consistent in the post-Brady years in that he does not spend at QB for guys who don't have a chance of being "the guy", Cam for nothing, then Mac and scrubs, then Mac and new cheaper scrub, then run it back.

 

[Jettisoned]

BB famously said they’ll never be the 2011 Colts - they’d never have a team so reliant on its QB.

He never said that at all. He was answering series of questions about drafting Jimmy Garoppolo in the 2nd round of the 2014 draft. He was being skewered for picking a backup QB in the second round. The Colts deliberately tanked in 2011 to get Andrew Luck, that's what BB said he wouldn't do.

 

[tims4wins]

He never said that at all. He was answering series of questions about drafting Jimmy Garoppolo in the 2nd round of the 2014 draft. He was being skewered for picking a backup QB in the second round. The Colts deliberately tanked in 2011 to get Andrew Luck, that's what BB said he wouldn't do.

“I think organizationally, in our organization I don’t think we would put together a team the way Indianapolis did it when they lost Manning and they go 0-16, 1-15 or whatever it was,” Belichick told reporters Saturday night at Gillette Stadium after the draft was completed. “I don’t think that’s really what we’re looking for. Unfortunately when we lost Tom (Brady) in 2008 — we had a player that could step in and we won 11 games. We want to be competitive even if something happens to a player at any position.

“I think depth is always important. You never know when you’re going to need it. But I don’t think we’d be happy going 1-15 if we had an injury at one position. But other people have different philosophies. I’m just saying that the contrast to that example. I don’t think that’s really what we’re trying to do.”

 

[mcpickl]

Yes, obviously it will work out better in the long run. That’s why I’m not upset in any way that they didn’t sign Brissett. But it is highly inconsistent with their approach in 2020 when they scraped for every possible win. We can’t say BB did a good job in 2020 but also a good job in 2023. That’s moving the goalposts. I guess we can say that HC BB did a good job in 2020.

But again, that’s the problem with all of this. You get the GM with the HC.

From 2020 til this season his backup QB was Brian Hoyer. Brian Hoyer has lost his last 12 starts.

How is going into this season with awful backup QBs, different from their approach since 2020?

Edit: Hoyer has only lost a mere 12 straight starts, not 18. Sorry Brian!

 

[tims4wins]

From 2020 til this season his backup QB was Brian Hoyer. Brian Hoyer has lost his last 18 starts.

How is going into this season with awful backup QBs, different from their approach since 2020?

Brian Hoyer played like a dozen years in the NFL. He was the classic veteran backup signing. If they had no chance if Cam went down in 2020, then why even sign him? Why not just give the reps to Stidham?

Bailey Zappe will be lucky to play a 3rd NFL season.

I don’t see the situations as remotely comparable.

 

[Cellar-Door]

Brian Hoyer played like a dozen years in the NFL. He was the classic veteran backup signing. If they had no chance if Cam went down in 2020, then why even sign him? Why not just give the reps to Stidham?

Bailey Zappe will be lucky to play a 3rd NFL season.

I don’t see the situations as remotely comparable.

Because they wanted to see what he had left, and if they got lucky maybe they find their guy.
Stidham was obviously not a guy. Hoyer was the classic "guy who knows the playbook" they didn't go out and get one of the top backups, they rolled with one guy they thought could maybe be a good NFL QB and some scrubs. That the guy happened to be a very old scrub vs. a young one wasn't really something significant.

 

[Jettisoned]

Yeah, he was contrasting his choice to draft a backup who could viably fill in if Brady got injured vs deliberately having 0 good QB's with the goal of losing as many games as possible to get the 1st overall pick as the Colts so obviously did in 2011.

I'm not really seeing the parallels with this season. Bill felt he could spend a 2nd on a backup QB for 4 years of QB insurance because the rest of the roster was good enough. Turns out he was right on both counts because they won the Super Bowl that year and then Jimmy G won them 2 games a few years later when Brady was suspended. He obviously didn't feel like he had a roster good enough to spend a lot of resources on a backup QB this year.

 

[tims4wins]

Because they wanted to see what he had left, and if they got lucky maybe they find their guy.
Stidham was obviously not a guy. Hoyer was the classic "guy who knows the playbook" they didn't go out and get one of the top backups, they rolled with one guy they thought could maybe be a good NFL QB and some scrubs. That the guy happened to be a very old scrub vs. a young one wasn't really something significant.

Stidham had one year in NE prior to 2020. Same as Zappe heading into this year. Zappe got far more reps in his rookie year than Stidham did. He is obviously not the guy either. And yet, they didn’t sign anyone to play over him.

 

[mcpickl]

Brian Hoyer played like a dozen years in the NFL. He was the classic veteran backup signing. If they had no chance if Cam went down in 2020, then why even sign him? Why not just give the reps to Stidham?

Bailey Zappe will be lucky to play a 3rd NFL season.

I don’t see the situations as remotely comparable.

They're comparable in that they both stink, and the resources they used on them were minimal.

You think they signed Hoyer because they thought he could help them win, even though he never wins?

They signed him at the minimum to shepherd along Stidham, then when they realized that wasn't going to work they signed Cam for short money and kept Hoyer here to help Cam learn the offense.

Then Hoyer re-signed in 2021, again for the minimum, to shepherd along a rookie Mac Jones in camp, stayed on as the backup after Cam was cut, and continued on through 2022.

So, you would now be happier had they kept Brian Hoyer on for this season instead of, or along with, Bailey Zappe? That would have been acceptable as a backup for you and they'd be in a much better spot now?

 

[tims4wins]

None of it would make me happy. They all suck.

I am just pointing out that BB famously talked about having competition at all spots of the roster. There is zero competition at the QB spot which is why Mac has continued to start.

Edit: maybe his philosophy has changed, in which case, awesome. Wish he tanked in 2020 but better late than never. Somehow though I doubt his philosophy has changed.

I’m tired and going to bed. So I’m not ignoring responses if you don’t see anything until the morning.

 

[Cellar-Door]

Stidham had one year in NE prior to 2020. Same as Zappe heading into this year. Zappe got far more reps in his rookie year than Stidham did. He is obviously not the guy either. And yet, they didn’t sign anyone to play over him.

Uh yeah... they have Mac Jones playing over him. The backup isn't a supposed to be someone who can "be the guy" it's just a guy. When Hoyer was signed Cam wasn't on the roster, so my bet is they planned to start Stidham. Then they got lucky and Cam was willing to play for almost nothing, so he became the starter. Hoyer got one start, but Stidham actually played in 5 times more games.

I really just don't get your point. Since 2020 they have never had, or really made any attempt to have a high end vet backup. It's either been a scrub coaches' assitant vet and/or a mid to late round draft flier.

I also think people are reading way too much into a 10+ year old quote about how the Patriots when they were a loaded dynasty chose to structure the roster. It wasn't some chiseled in stone declaration that he would always invest in backup QBs.

 

[Arroyoyo]

I think Bill’s future may depend on whether he truly pushed to draft Mac or not.

I seem to remember some rumors of RKK pushing for Mac. If that was the case, it’s hard to completely blame Bill for the quarterback play. If Bill was resistant, and he said so much to RKK before the draft for reasons we are now seeing play out on the field, Kraft would have to kind of view Bill sort of in high regard still, as in “he told me the kid wasn’t a good fit but I pushed for it anyways. He was actually right.”

But I have no idea. For a while I’ve wondered how much Bill really wanted Mac. Maybe it was 100% his call. But what if it wasn’t and he made it clear at the time he wasn’t for the types of reasons we keep seeing week after week?

 

[tims4wins]

Uh yeah... they have Mac Jones playing over him. The backup isn't a supposed to be someone who can "be the guy" it's just a guy. When Hoyer was signed Cam wasn't on the roster, so my bet is they planned to start Stidham. Then they got lucky and Cam was willing to play for almost nothing, so he became the starter. Hoyer got one start, but Stidham actually played in 5 times more games.

I really just don't get your point. Since 2020 they have never had, or really made any attempt to have a high end vet backup. It's either been a scrub coaches' assitant vet and/or a mid to late round draft flier.

I also think people are reading way too much into a 10+ year old quote about how the Patriots when they were a loaded dynasty chose to structure the roster. It wasn't some chiseled in stone declaration that he would always invest in backup QBs.

My point - and I’m going to bed after this post - is that there was absolutely no competition on the roster for the backup QB position. They cut Zappe at the end of camp. They had literally no one else on the roster at that point. Maybe that’s good GM’ing, I dunno. Maybe BB knew they would suck so he figured it wouldn’t matter who the backup was. But for a guy who has talked forever about the importance of competition, he created a situation with quite literally zero.

 

[azsoxpatsfan]

It really wouldn’t have made sense to sign a better backup. The team sucks, at this point having a better backup would be worse for the long term. But let’s say the team was like 6-4 and Mac got hurt and was gonna miss the next few weeks. I assume we’d do something like sign Colt McCoy or Matt Ryan, and realistically they’d be just as good as any backup we could’ve signed. I don’t think the team thought Zappe was good enough for anything other than potentially finishing a game if Mac gets hurt.

 

[8slim]

People seem to be talking about a backup QB as if the only scenario where they play is a season ending injury to the starter. But more often that not, the backup is going to a play a game here and there when the starter is out for short-ish stretches.

That’s part of why I wanted a vet. Because it’s not like Mac was ever going to be so transcendent that our Super Bowl hopes would be dashed if he missed any time. Best case scenario he was going to be a #10-15 QB who’d be grinding out system wins. In that rosy situation it’d have been nice to have a plausible guy to plug in for a week or 3 if need be. To keep the system running to some extent.

And we talked this through a few weeks back. There seemed to be a few low cost options we could have brought in.

I mean it’s all irrelevant now.

 

[azsoxpatsfan]

I think Bill’s future may depend on whether he truly pushed to draft Mac or not.

I seem to remember some rumors of RKK pushing for Mac. If that was the case, it’s hard to completely blame Bill for the quarterback play. If Bill was resistant, and he said so much to RKK before the draft for reasons we are now seeing play out on the field, Kraft would have to kind of view Bill sort of in high regard still, as in “he told me the kid wasn’t a good fit but I pushed for it anyways. He was actually right.”

But I have no idea. For a while I’ve wondered how much Bill really wanted Mac. Maybe it was 100% his call. But what if it wasn’t and he made it clear at the time he wasn’t for the types of reasons we keep seeing week after week?

I dont think it matters at all whose idea it was, drafting him was 100% the right choice at the time. As was starting him his rookie season, starting him last year, and starting him this year. And now it’s in the teams best long term interests to continue starting him the rest of the season. I don’t understand these criticisms of BB related to continuing to play Mac. It was obviously the right choice to start the year because maybe he could improve with a new OC, now it’s the right choice because he sucks absolute ass and losing is the best outcome.

 

[Frisbetarian]

Mike Taliaferro was the worst starting QB in Patriots history.

 

[azsoxpatsfan]

People seem to be talking about a backup QB as if the only scenario where they play is a season ending injury to the starter. But more often that not, the backup is going to a play a game here and there when the starter is out for short-ish stretches.

That’s part of why I wanted a vet. Because it’s not like Mac was ever going to be so transcendent that our Super Bowl hopes would be dashed if he missed any time. Best case scenario he was going to be a #10-15 QB who’d be grinding out system wins. In that rosy situation it’d have been nice to have a plausible guy to plug in for a week or 3 if need be. To keep the system running to some extent.

And we talked this through a few weeks back. There seemed to be a few low cost options we could have brought in.

I mean it’s all irrelevant now.

Right, but there are still low cost FAs that would be fine to plug in for four games. If we were in a scenario where we needed a competent backup, we could have one tomorrow