I think this has become one of the biggest issues for Belichick, as it has been for most of the truly great long term coaches. They are able to attract and build exceptional coaching staffs, that can get their units playing at the highest levels both individually, and as units. They can also fill the assistant roles to those coaches with bright young up and coming coaches. However at a certain point the se coaches retire, the younger coaches get pilfered by other organizations, and eventually the well runs dry, and they get stuck with lesser coaching staffs than the really good younger head coaches, and they can no longer replenish their staffs with the best coaches. This is true of today’s Patriots, who still have some good young coaches, Mayo, Belichick, possibly Klemm, but also have retreads like Judge and O’ Brien, and coaches who flat out suck, like Cam Achord. And when you go back and look at the coaching staff that Belichick had when he was in Cleveland, and for his first 10 years plus in New England the current staff simply cannot compare, which is why he had to beg Scar to come out of retirement. Unfortunately Belichick can no longer attract the kinds of great young coaching prospects that he once was able to get, and paired with losing his great team leaders you end up with a team that simply doesn’t function as well as an entity, units, and individuals. Eventually all good things pass, and that seems to be where the Patriots are at.
