Battle of the Leaks: Kraft strikes back

[raduray]

Via Tom Curran

Curran: Belichick's exit raises questions about Pats' power dynamics

A new era will begin in New England this year, but as Tom E. Curran writes, there’s still plenty left to untangle from Bill Belichick’s 24-year Patriots tenure.

www.nbcsportsboston.com

 

[XLIX]

This is the first I read that the infamous Mayo "baseball bat" was in fact a mini-bat, which IMHO adds a LOT of context to that whole story.

 

[oldrover]

And the soap opera continues!

 

[reflexblue]

I posted a couple of days ago that there has to be one person who has the authority to make final decisions. What i didn't add is that it cant be SpongeBob Kraft

 

[Ross12]

My big takeaway here is that it is a firm confirmation that the Krafts will NOT be involved in personnel decisions (thank god) - but it does not actually give us any idea as far as what the plan is, either. It just kind of says "Well, they think they have good people but they aren't really sure who does what or how they'll function without Bill there to run things.......... Anyway, the end"

??? Seems like they need someone to actually.... run things? Have final say at a minimum? Even if they do have good people, if no one's in charge then it just seems like a disaster waiting to happen. Maybe there's another shoe to drop that they simply don't want to reveal yet.

 

[Toofy]

I think they trust wolf a lot. If I am the boss I am going to ask what drafting decisions were made and who over-rode what .


Based on 1on1s you know how decision was made, who made good decisions s and bad . So postmortem analysis would allow you the benefit of working through those assumptions and promote from within whom you feel are more capable.

I think they're punting on returning to relevancy this year itself without rocking the boat too much and considering the way bill was jettisoned looks like internally everyone has also been sabotaging bill behind the back to protect themselves.

But it's very difficult to consistently lie unless everyone coordinates to tell the same lie.


So I think bills concentration of power coupled with inability to draft and vet free agents really killed the team.

 

[XLIX]

??? Seems like they need someone to actually.... run things? Have final say at a minimum? Even if they do have good people, if no one's in charge then it just seems like a disaster waiting to happen. Maybe there's another shoe to drop that they simply don't want to reveal yet.

It seems to me the GM (who I believe they have already selected but they still need to go through a formal process) will be the one running things.

Now, obviously, a GM is going to consider the opinions of his scouts and coaches but going forward the GM is the final word.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

This is the first I read that the infamous Mayo "baseball bat" was in fact a mini-bat, which IMHO adds a LOT of context to that whole story.

When I first read about the bat, I pictured Al Capone going to a meeting with a big Louisville Slugger ready to hammer someone.

 

[archstanton543]

When I first read about the bat, I pictured Al Capone going to a meeting with a big Louisville Slugger ready to hammer someone.

As intended.

 

[Betterthanmost]

What actually pisses me off is the Krafts making up their mind after the Germany game and leaked to Curran while the season was still going on. That I can't seem to get pass and makes the Krafts look messy to me. Actually disgusted by it. No way to treat this man who built the culture that sustained winning over two decades.

 

[lancerman]

Most of this tracks to me tbh. Bill was such a presence and ultimate final say in every bucket of the organization that it was way too hard to give anyone a fair evaluation without the caveat of "Bill got to make the decisions and I couldn't challenge him all that much". It's hard to know if the scouting and personnel department sucked when there were so many stories of Bill overruling them. It's hard to make an evaluation on BOB and Klemm when Bill is telling Klemm to coach the line a different way than he wants and is filling BOB's staff with guys BOB doesn't want.

It sounds like Kraft had two many scenarios of asking people "why is your part of the team not doing well" and he kept getting responses to the effect of "I didn't want it this way, but Belichick gets the final word and I didn't have a leg to stand on to disagree". So you had Bill running the organizationally too close to the vest (which makes sense when you realize we haven't had an official DC for years and last year didn't even have a real named OC). If there was one problem, you could blame one problem child and move on. But there were so many problems where the excuses were "ask Bill why he wanted it that way" that there was just nobody else to really blame anymore. And as things got worse, you had Bill saying uncharacteristic things like "well look at the past 20 years" when he got questioned. And in the end it just became untenable.

 

[RobertWeathers]

When I first read about the bat, I pictured Al Capone going to a meeting with a big Louisville Slugger ready to hammer someone.

Part...of.....a...team.

 

[Kdo5]

This is the first I read that the infamous Mayo "baseball bat" was in fact a mini-bat, which IMHO adds a LOT of context to that whole story.

TBH it makes me feel that a lot of this house ought to be cleaned out. Not sure I like the half measures of bringing everyone back aside from Bill. There are people in the organization that are clearly trying to smear Mayo with ******** like that and I’m glad we received context in the article.

We don’t need old Belichick loyalists undermining things. Hopefully they go and join Bill wherever he ends up.

 

[lancerman]

What actually pisses me off is the Krafts making up their mind after the Germany game and leaked to Curran while the season was still going on. That I can't seem to get pass and makes the Krafts look messy to me. Actually disgusted by it. No way to treat this man who built the culture that sustained winning over two decades.

Tbf the Germany game was before the bye week and the leaks really didn't come out until the last mid December before the Chiefs game (after the Steelers upset). Which seemed a lot more like a "it's coming to the end and wanting to soften the blow to the fans so they aren't blindsided". Which is what usually happens in most franchises. It's very rare for a firing to come out of nowhere. They already gave him the dignity of letting him finish the season out when they very easily could have dropped him after the bye or even after the Chargers shut out saying "okay Bill, we wanted improvement and the team just got shut out against a bad Chargers team to go 2-10, we want a head start on next year".

They gave him the grace of finishing up and they even let him have a nice press conference where they made it look like a mutually agreed upon parting instead of just outright firing him and sending the typical press release most teams do.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Most of this tracks to me tbh. Bill was such a presence and ultimate final say in every bucket of the organization that it was way too hard to give anyone a fair evaluation without the caveat of "Bill got to make the decisions and I couldn't challenge him all that much". It's hard to know if the scouting and personnel department sucked when there were so many stories of Bill overruling them. It's hard to make an evaluation on BOB and Klemm when Bill is telling Klemm to coach the line a different way than he wants and is filling BOB's staff with guys BOB doesn't want.

It sounds like Kraft had two many scenarios of asking people "why is your part of the team not doing well" and he kept getting responses to the effect of "I didn't want it this way, but Belichick gets the final word and I didn't have a leg to stand on to disagree". So you had Bill running the organizationally too close to the vest (which makes sense when you realize we haven't had an official DC for years and last year didn't even have a real named OC). If there was one problem, you could blame one problem child and move on. But there were so many problems where the excuses were "ask Bill why he wanted it that way" that there was just nobody else to really blame anymore. And as things got worse, you had Bill saying uncharacteristic things like "well look at the past 20 years" when he got questioned. And in the end it just became untenable.

 

[upstater1]

My big takeaway here is that it is a firm confirmation that the Krafts will NOT be involved in personnel decisions (thank god) - but it does not actually give us any idea as far as what the plan is, either. It just kind of says "Well, they think they have good people but they aren't really sure who does what or how they'll function without Bill there to run things.......... Anyway, the end"

??? Seems like they need someone to actually.... run things? Have final say at a minimum? Even if they do have good people, if no one's in charge then it just seems like a disaster waiting to happen. Maybe there's another shoe to drop that they simply don't want to reveal yet.

That's good.

On the other hand they are denying what happened with Jakobi.

Someone posted here an article that verbatim said what Callahan reported about Jakobi way back in early September.

Last, Kraft himself is on record telling us that Belichick would have to relinquish some of the control he had over the draft. So now that never happened.

One more thing: does this mean all the staff strife we heard about is bogus? It never happened?

I hope all of you can see through Curran's motives here.

 

[Rob0729]

This story puts a lot of Wickersham and other's stories in context (at least as according to Curran's sources).

- Kraft did veto another year of Patricia, but gave Belichick the authority to pick his new OC. Belichick submitted a list of prospects that included O'Brien and Kraft didn't veto it.
- Kraft never kiboshed Belichick from trading Mac. There was just no legitimate trade offer.
- Mayo swung a mini-toy bat.
- Kraft does not and will not interfere with personnel decisions. He won't be Jerry Jones.
- If Belichick "had his way" he would have gone into this year with Patricia at OC and Will Levis as his QB. I think that would have been a failure. Levis was not great this year with a better offensive talent around him and a real OC>

This article seems closer to reality to me than the Wickersham article or other article. Kraft has been adamant about not interfering in football operations for over two decades. Why would he start now. He made it known publicly he was dead set against Patricia being the OC in 2022, but also said that Belichick earned the right to make decisions like that. I cannot see Kraft allowing Belichick to make Patricia the OC, but micromanaging roster decisions.

 

[upstater1]

This story puts a lot of Wickersham and other's stories in context (at least as according to Curran's sources).

- Kraft did veto another year of Patricia, but gave Belichick the authority to pick his new OC. Belichick submitted a list of prospects that included O'Brien and Kraft didn't veto it.
- Kraft never kiboshed Belichick from trading Mac. There was just no legitimate trade offer.
- Mayo swung a mini-toy bat.
- Kraft does not and will not interfere with personnel decisions. He won't be Jerry Jones.
- If Belichick "had his way" he would have gone into this year with Patricia at OC and Will Levis as his QB. I think that would have been a failure. Levis was not great this year with a better offensive talent around him and a real OC>

This article seems closer to reality to me than the Wickersham article or other article. Kraft has been adamant about not interfering in football operations for over two decades. Why would he start now. He made it known publicly he was dead set against Patricia being the OC in 2022, but also said that Belichick earned the right to make decisions like that. I cannot see Kraft allowing Belichick to make Patricia the OC, but micromanaging roster decisions.

If you believe this though, you have to dismiss big chunks of the Wickersham, Callahan AND Howe articles, not only Wickersham. Again, there are discrepancies.

From Kraft saying Belichick would have to relinquish some powers regarding the draft, to Belichick not wanting a QB at 15, to the Smith-Schuster over Jakobi (that one isn't on Kraft, but on the scouts).

Then there's the meddling with the staff that caused divided allegiances.

 

[Kdo5]

If you believe this though, you have to dismiss big chunks of the Wickersham, Callahan AND Howe articles, not only Wickersham. Again, there are discrepancies.

From Kraft saying Belichick would have to relinquish some powers regarding the draft, to Belichick not wanting a QB at 15, to the Smith-Schuster over Jakobi (that one isn't on Kraft, but on the scouts).

Then there's the meddling with the staff that caused divided allegiances.

I feel that Curran’s reporting lines up most closely with the truth. I haven’t seen any indication that the Kraft’s have been significantly influencing football decisions outside of Mac Jones being taken at 15 which most people agreed we needed to take a QB with that first round pick.

Bill is a control freak and I think the “erosion” of his control is very exaggerated.

 

[lancerman]

This story puts a lot of Wickersham and other's stories in context (at least as according to Curran's sources).

- Kraft did veto another year of Patricia, but gave Belichick the authority to pick his new OC. Belichick submitted a list of prospects that included O'Brien and Kraft didn't veto it.
- Kraft never kiboshed Belichick from trading Mac. There was just no legitimate trade offer.
- Mayo swung a mini-toy bat.
- Kraft does not and will not interfere with personnel decisions. He won't be Jerry Jones.
- If Belichick "had his way" he would have gone into this year with Patricia at OC and Will Levis as his QB. I think that would have been a failure. Levis was not great this year with a better offensive talent around him and a real OC>

This article seems closer to reality to me than the Wickersham article or other article. Kraft has been adamant about not interfering in football operations for over two decades. Why would he start now. He made it known publicly he was dead set against Patricia being the OC in 2022, but also said that Belichick earned the right to make decisions like that. I cannot see Kraft allowing Belichick to make Patricia the OC, but micromanaging roster decisions.

It's funny saying this, but literally every single time there has been a report that Kraft did mandate something to Bill (which was few and far between), it was almost always to Bill's benefit and saved his ass.

-The whole Brady vs Jimmy thing in 2017. Likely have Bill an extra Super Bowl and flat out saved Bill from having to suffer through selling injury prone Jimmy for years while Brady spent 2018-2022 ripping it up for 5 years somewhere else.

-When Bill finally won out, he had no plan whatsoever at QB after letting Brady go and it ultimately led to his exit.

-Trying to keep Patricia after last year. If Bill tried to seriously do that, he would have lost almost all credibility. Somehow everyone in the world knew hiring Patricia was a mistake except Bill, it failed, and then Bill wanted to double down. Kraft saved Bill from himself on that one.

-Getting rid of Mac without a real trade offer and trying to replace him with another bum in Will Levis who played like crap and was a big reason Vrabel doesn't have a job. Mac sucks, but making that move at QB again and not having a concrete answer would have been so stupid.

So much of Bill's mentality the last few years has been "get rid of something he thinks will be cost down the line for some sort of value without a real replacement in place".