Feelings on Bill O'Brien so far?

[StrawHatPatriot]

You can't coach a team offensively with lackluster talent all around the roster - he is left with practically nothing at receiver and no true wideout (Demario is the exception) and trying to send plays to a QB who makes 90s Marc Wilson look like Joe Montana

Yes this is true. But I still seeing some questionable decisions. Even before this week, I kept on seeing Juju and Devante run deep routes despite Mac having horrible chemistry with them. They can't run those routes with other players like Douglas (and Bourne before his ACL)?

 

[Real fan 02]

Too early to tell.

So far, he’s hamstrung by the banged up OL and lack of skill position players.

One play he should never have called is the jump ball to Parker covered by Howard.

It’s much less about playcalling and much more about lack of execution. In a few weeks we should know more.

BOB.. even has no answer for this offense. I think he's a great coach.. but just doesn't have the QB or any elite skill players.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Only Tom Brady can run the Tom Brady offense. Him and Josh McDaniels are frauds just like Mike McCoy and Adam Gase with Peyton Manning.

 

[thecore762]

BOB.. even has no answer for this offense. I think he's a great coach.. but just doesn't have the QB or any elite skill players.

Nobody is going to succeed at running this team without Brady on the offensive side of the ball. BB the GM is awful and no offensive coach can fix with his poor choices in the past few drafts.

Until BB is fired, nobody can fix this dumpster fire.

 

[Nehalem]

At this point in the season last year the Patriots scored more than 20 points in 6/9 games. This year its 1/9.

At this point Matt Patricia is looking like a rocket scientist at OC.

 

[Thelonious]

BO'B's situation is somewhat similar to Macs: Neither has been given what is required to do their jobs well. There may be something like enough evidence that Mac's upside is simply not adequate for the team to anoint him the "franchise" QB. I don't think there is enough such evidence re BO'B. He is trying to do two things which are somewhat in tension with one another. When Josh was Mac's coach/mentor, his attention was steadily on so curtailing Mac's responsibilities that he could achieve success. Bill is trying to support Mac;s devlopment while at the same time establishing a more complete version of the offense, even as he is somewhat held back by Mac's limitations and nearly prevented from succeeding by the poor roster building under GM Belichick. It seems to me that this year's roster is actually worse than the roster Mac had to work with in his rookie year. Between serving two masters - building a new offense and tailoring that offense to Mac's limitations - BO'B has not had a chance to make it all work.

I'l confess I find many of BO'b's playcalls baffling, but I suspect he is working around far more problems than are apparent on first glance.

I would not object to BO'b's sticking around as OC, but given he is quite likely to move on at some point anyway, perhaps in pursuit of an HC job in the NFL or in college, and given there is a case to be made for a younger guy with a fresh approach, neither would I sqwawk much if he were to be shown the door. He hasnt done his job badly enough to lose it, but neither has he done it well enough that moving on is unthinkable.

 

[Real fan 02]

Nobody is going to succeed at running this team without Brady on the offensive side of the ball. BB the GM is awful and no offensive coach can fix with his poor choices in the past few drafts.

Until BB is fired, nobody can fix this dumpster fire.

That's what I have no clue why they are still running the Brady offense. It's senseless. It's like with each passing week the team looks worse and worse. I have no clue how we beat Buffalo.

 

[n6249c]

BO'B's situation is somewhat similar to Macs: Neither has been given what is required to do their jobs well. There may be something like enough evidence that Mac's upside is simply not adequate for the team to anoint him the "franchise" QB. I don't think there is enough such evidence re BO'B. He is trying to do two things which are somewhat in tension with one another. When Josh was Mac's coach/mentor, his attention was steadily on so curtailing Mac's responsibilities that he could achieve success. Bill is trying to support Mac;s devlopment while at the same time establishing a more complete version of the offense, even as he is somewhat held back by Mac's limitations and nearly prevented from succeeding by the poor roster building under GM Belichick. It seems to me that this year's roster is actually worse than the roster Mac had to work with in his rookie year. Between serving two masters - building a new offense and tailoring that offense to Mac's limitations - BO'B has not had a chance to make it all work.

I'l confess I find many of BO'b's playcalls baffling, but I suspect he is working around far more problems than are apparent on first glance.

I would not object to BO'b's sticking around as OC, but given he is quite likely to move on at some point anyway, perhaps in pursuit of an HC job in the NFL or in college, and given there is a case to be made for a younger guy with a fresh approach, neither would I sqwawk much if he were to be shown the door. He hasnt done his job badly enough to lose it, but neither has he done it well enough that moving on is unthinkable.

BOB’s situation may be like Mac’s if he sucks at his job too. I’m beginning to think that might be so.

Playcalling is predictable and mediocre at best. Example: not one, but two Hail Mary’s to Reagor yesterday. First clanged off his hands. So why call the second one in a critical stretch where not wasting a single play was vital to keep faint hopes of coming back alive? That was simply pathetic.

Execution is sloppy. WRs loaf if they don’t like being a decoy, don’t cut crisply, can‘t master footwork, routinely draw stupid penalties at critical times.

BOB is closer to the players than BB, but BOB gets a pass while BB gets pilloried? What the actual F@#$?

 

[Thelonious]

BOB’s situation may be like Mac’s if he sucks at his job too. I’m beginning to think that might be so.

Playcalling is predictable and mediocre at best. Example: not one, but two Hail Mary’s to Reagor yesterday. First clanged off his hands. So why call the second one in a critical stretch where not wasting a single play was vital to keep faint hopes of coming back alive? That was simply pathetic.

Execution is sloppy. WRs loaf if they don’t like being a decoy, don’t cut crisply, can‘t master footwork, routinely draw stupid penalties at critical times.

BOB is closer to the players than BB, but BOB gets a pass while BB gets pilloried? What the actual F@#$?

As I think I said, it is perfectly reasonable to cast a doubtful eye on BO'B's work, but I do not see any compelling body of evidence that he is much at fault re the team's failings. I do find his playcalling baffling at times, similar to a degree to some of Josh's calls. Both seem too ready to abandon the obvious, proven choice in favor of something fancy or clever. Sometimes finesse is just a sort of fussiness which conduces to failure. Need 3 yards? Consider running the damned ball: that sort of thing. I also said that though I do not see an adequate empirical basis for moving on from BO'B, if someone were to say, "I wan't to clean house thoroughly, and as part if that, I want to move on to a young, agrressive, more cutting edge OC; I wouldn't object, particularly given the likelihood BO'B will likely want to move on at some point for career reasons. Bill is getting "pilloried" because he deserves to be pilloried, certainly for his failures as GM. Bo'B just does not have anything like the same record of failure...not yet anyway.

 

[vicspats]

BOB’s situation may be like Mac’s if he sucks at his job too. I’m beginning to think that might be so.

Playcalling is predictable and mediocre at best. Example: not one, but two Hail Mary’s to Reagor yesterday. First clanged off his hands. So why call the second one in a critical stretch where not wasting a single play was vital to keep faint hopes of coming back alive? That was simply pathetic.

Execution is sloppy. WRs loaf if they don’t like being a decoy, don’t cut crisply, can‘t master footwork, routinely draw stupid penalties at critical times.

BOB is closer to the players than BB, but BOB gets a pass while BB gets pilloried? What the actual F@#$?

Where does Troy Brown fall into the wr criticism?

 

[Jlaff]

At this point in the season last year the Patriots scored more than 20 points in 6/9 games. This year its 1/9.

At this point Matt Patricia is looking like a rocket scientist at OC.

I'll always say Matt Patricia didn't under-perform expectations. He was a DC (and not a great one IMO) and accepted BB's request for him to take a position outside his area of "expertise". Offense improved somewhat as the season went on but never did anything great. Why was anything more expected? Add Mac to that equation and Patricia was in a hopeless position. And I say this as someone who has never been a Patricia fan.

 

[thecore762]

That's what I have no clue why they are still running the Brady offense. It's senseless. It's like with each passing week the team looks worse and worse. I have no clue how we beat Buffalo.

BB thought he can just plug in any QB and keep having success like Brady had.

 

[pats_premi]

Bob is good coach, he just needs a better QB. He had some success without Brady in both the NFL and at the college level. Mac is destroying multiple coaching careers.