The inside story of the Patriots’ fall to rock bottom in the Bill Belichick era

[RIpats88]

Jerry Jones lucked out after firing HOF Tom Landry on the golf course.

Kraft wont be so fortunate.

Yeah because keeping bill for 2 measly years where he undermines his offense is going to lead us back to playoff contention.

How dare he fire a coach/gm that has you at 4-12!

I like how fans pretending that if Bill is let go it’s firing a coach who went 12-3 and went to the divisional round.

It’s a gm who has been woefully incompetent for at least 5 years now. But it was okay to let Brady go because we don’t reward people for the past right?

 

[RIpats88]

Lol because of COURSE he did.

Not sure what’s worse. Wanting to keep Patricia after knowing what we know now about how dysfunctional and bad the coaching was.

Or hamstringing your new OC by not allowing them to fill out their staff and giving them poor talent as an FU to actually having to hire a real OC

 

[Triumph]

Yeah because keeping bill for 2 measly years where he undermines his offense is going to lead us back to playoff contention.

How dare he fire a coach/gm that has you at 4-12!

8 time Super Bowl winning coach that forgot more about collecting Lombardi's than Kraft's next hire will ever know!

 

[Triumph]

Not sure what’s worse. Wanting to keep Patricia after knowing what we know now about how dysfunctional and bad the coaching was.

Or hamstringing your new OC by not allowing them to fill out their staff and giving them poor talent as an FU to actually having to hire a real OC

Keeping Corky Mac employed is top of the list.

Forest Gump had more talent.

 

[RIpats88]

8 time Super Bowl winning coach that forgot more about collecting Lombardi's than Kraft's next hire will ever know!

Tom Brady won 6 super bowls too and he was shown the door what’s your point?

It’s about current and future performance not past accolades right? Isn’t that Bills mantra?

Or when it comes to Bill it’s about past accolades so he should be given GM for life no matter how bad he is

Or maybe we can hold onto bill for 2 more years can be a middling to poor team as he continues to run it into the ground with baffling decisions and he can leave on his terms with the roster and coaching staff in shambles to reward him for his past.

You do realize whether it’s 2024 or 2026 Bill is not here for long right?

 

[Triumph]

Tom Brady won 6 super bowls too and he was shown the door what’s your point?

After 4 years where are the Pats?

Back where it all began. 5 wins. Sometimes you have to wonder if BB is doing this deliberately as a GFY to Kraft.

It’s about current and future performance not past accolades right? Isn’t that Bills mantra?

Sure if you have a guy who knows how to get there.

Or when it comes to Bill it’s about past accolades

The new hire will have won nothing.

 

[RIpats88]

After 4 years where are the Pats?

Back where it all began. 5 wins. Sometimes you have to wonder if BB is doing this deliberately as a GFY to Kraft.

Sure if you have a guy who knows how to get there.

The new hire will have won nothing.

Doing this as a GFY to Kraft is no way to build a team.

He definitely hamstrung O’Brien as an GFY to Kraft for making him replace his binky in Patricia. He wanted to double down!

 

[Triumph]

Doing this as a GFY to Kraft is no way to build a team.

Maybe Kraft did want Corky and forced BB to play him.

Someone here said that Corky is back in 2024 with a new HC. Do it. Gillete will be a ghost town.

He definitely hamstrung O’Brien as an GFY to Kraft for making him replace his binky in Patricia. He wanted to double down!

Patricias offense produced more wins than Obrien. HAHA

 

[Rob0729]

Maybe Kraft did want Corky and forced BB to play him.

Someone here said that Corky is back in 2024 with a new HC. Do it. Gillete will be a ghost town.

Patricias offense produced more wins than Obrien. HAHA

No one is saying Mac would be the anointed starter In 2024. The is a chance the new regime would keep Mac because his salary is cheap for a back up and try to fix him. In this scenario, the best he would be is given an opportunity to compete for the starting role with a top rookie QB and/or another veteran coming in.

Odds are Jones will be cut or traded though.

And just because Patricia’s offense produced more wins don’t mean it is better. The Patriots’ offense was more talented last year.

 

[Ross12]

I just have so many questions about the staff in 2022 and 2023 on offense.

Things were good in 2021. They had Josh at OC and plenty of staff.

2022, Josh leaves. Bill could have promoted WR coach Mick Lombardi but chose not to. Mick leaves with Josh. Josh continues to poach staff, taking assistant QB coach Bo Hardegree and OL coach Carmen Bricillo. Bill finally blocks Josh when he tries to take TE coach Nick Caley, but also declines to promote Caley himself. Instead he brings in Patricia and Judge for their weird offensive plan but the staff is undermanned which certainly doesn’t help their ability to execute.

2023, BOB replaces Patricia. BOB takes both the OC role and QB coach role. Judge moves to help special teams. Nick Caley leaves and BOB adds his long time partner Will Lawing to fill that gap. They bring in Adrian Klemm as OL coach but he makes it a month into the season before taking a leave of absence.

Regardless of whether you think any of these guys are good or bad, it really shows how much drain and constant turnover there was, especially at positions which were underperforming. If Bill had just trusted and promoted guys already on his staff in 2022, there would have been continuity and maybe things would have turned out differently. If Bill would trust more guys in general and have a staff that’s not so small in the first place, there would be more guys to tap. You can see a similar issue in the front office where Caserio leaves after 2020, Ziegler is promoted for 2021 but then he also leaves in 2022 and they’re in a bad spot.

 

[Steve102]

If you overpay a player with a lot of talent, and he underperforms, you likely still have a well above average player and in a couple of years with cap increases that contract usually isn’t so bad. Granted there are some crazy contracts out there and I’m not pushing for that. But if you give a player an average contract and he performs to the contract, you still have just an average player.

I understand, I am saying that's my theory is how I think they view it.

 

[sb1]

No one is saying Mac would be the anointed starter In 2024. The is a chance the new regime would keep Mac because his salary is cheap for a back up and try to fix him. In this scenario, the best he would be is given an opportunity to compete for the starting role with a top rookie QB and/or another veteran coming in.

Odds are Jones will be cut or traded though.

And just because Patricia’s offense produced more wins don’t mean it is better. The Patriots’ offense was more talented last year.

Only low information fans would say Patricia is a better OC with a better offense than BOB. Considering who you're replying to that's not surprising.

 

[Rob0729]

I just have so many questions about the staff in 2022 and 2023 on offense.

Things were good in 2021. They had Josh at OC and plenty of staff.

2022, Josh leaves. Bill could have promoted WR coach Mick Lombardi but chose not to. Mick leaves with Josh. Josh continues to poach staff, taking assistant QB coach Bo Hardegree and OL coach Carmen Bricillo. Bill finally blocks Josh when he tries to take TE coach Nick Caley, but also declines to promote Caley himself. Instead he brings in Patricia and Judge for their weird offensive plan but the staff is undermanned which certainly doesn’t help their ability to execute.

2023, BOB replaces Patricia. BOB takes both the OC role and QB coach role. Judge moves to help special teams. Nick Caley leaves and BOB adds his long time partner Will Lawing to fill that gap. They bring in Adrian Klemm as OL coach but he makes it a month into the season before taking a leave of absence.

Regardless of whether you think any of these guys are good or bad, it really shows how much drain and constant turnover there was, especially at positions which were underperforming. If Bill had just trusted and promoted guys already on his staff in 2022, there would have been continuity and maybe things would have turned out differently. If Bill would trust more guys in general and have a staff that’s not so small in the first place, there would be more guys to tap. You can see a similar issue in the front office where Caserio leaves after 2020, Ziegler is promoted for 2021 but then he also leaves in 2022 and they’re in a bad spot.

I never got why Bill let Josh take so much of the existing staff. It is typically an unwritten rule that when a coordinator leaves to become a head coach that he cannot poach from the team's staff on the way out the door. I don't remember Josh getting many or any coaches when he went to Denver. Nor Patricia when he went to Detroit, Flores to Miami, or Rack or Weis and certainly not Mangini to the Jets. Why did Belichick let Josh take so many coaches that literally gutted this staff? With Patricia taking over, he could have used as much offensive coaching talent with experience as possible. And the blocking of Caley seems stupid in hindsight since he seems to have been slighted and bolted the first chance he got.

And I don't get the hiring of Klemm after this article. His coach philosophy clearly doesn't align with Belichick's and his system. Why would they try to force a square peg into a round hole like that?

 

[archstanton543]

I never got why Bill let Josh take so much of the existing staff. It is typically an unwritten rule that when a coordinator leaves to become a head coach that he cannot poach from the team's staff on the way out the door. I don't remember Josh getting many or any coaches when he went to Denver. Nor Patricia when he went to Detroit, Flores to Miami, or Rack or Weis and certainly not Mangini to the Jets. Why did Belichick let Josh take so many coaches that literally gutted this staff? With Patricia taking over, he could have used as much offensive coaching talent with experience as possible. And the blocking of Caley seems stupid in hindsight since he seems to have been slighted and bolted the first chance he got.

And I don't get the hiring of Klemm after this article. His coach philosophy clearly doesn't align with Belichick's and his system. Why would they try to force a square peg into a round hole like that?

Mangini tried to do the same back in the day which laid the foundation for Spygate.

 

[festy1986]

Bill has always been a suspect GM. Focusing on defense at the expense of the offense more often than not.

His staff has never shown outside of new England they know what they're doing.

Flores took over a defense for Patricia and they excelled. Patricia never should of been our defensive coordinator.

It's almost like Bill's madness worked because he had the QB to make up the difference.

Bill can coach defense. We know that. Even this year they still showed up.

But every rule in the book is there to help the offense. Bill didn't adapt. Not quick enough and his failure to address the QB situation at a professional level can't be understated.

He's made the playoffs in what? 2 of the 11 seasons he's coached without Brady? That's a extremely large sample size. Stop ignoring what the facts show.

 

[JohnJH]

I'll never forget when Groh spoke about speed and athleticism when glowingly talking about Strange, Thornton, and Strong. Well, one is average for a 1st Rder, the other a bust, and the last one gone a year later.

I'm not impressed with Groh.

Groh can go! (as far as I'm concerned)

 

[festy1986]

Kraft is ****ed.

He chose Bill over Brady and all he came away with at the and of the day is the equivalent of one extra year with Bill?

Kraft has to own that legacy too. He let Bill make that decision and rot the relationship with the best asset you had and all so Bill could coach 4 seasons instead of Brady being here the previous 3?

That's disgusting

 

[RIpats88]

Kraft is ****ed.

He chose Bill over Brady and all he came away with at the and of the day is the equivalent of one extra year with Bill?

Kraft has to own that legacy too. He let Bill make that decision and rot the relationship with the best asset you had and all so Bill could coach 4 seasons instead of Brady being here the previous 3?

That's disgusting

chances are had he went with brady and let Bill go we have more wins and are in a better position today than we currently are.

there were rumors brady wanted them to fire bill and go with O'brien

 

[festy1986]

chances are had he went with brady and let Bill go we have more wins and are in a better position today than we currently are.

there were rumors brady wanted them to fire bill and go with O'brien

I think it's obvious we were better with Brady the previous 3 seasons than with Bill.

Math still gonna math, Brady wasn't out here producing 7 win seasons.

I don't want this to turn into another Brady thread but you can't ignore the facts. You could of kept Brady the previous 3 years instead of Bill if all we got out of it was a 4 win season in year 4. No one signed up for that.

These Bill lovers can't defend this ****. 4 years is PLENTY of time to rebuild a roster. 4 complete seasons without Brady and Bill managed to make the team worse than where Brady left it.
That's a fact.

 

[Real fan 02]

WE need someone younger, I'm all for Mayo, I don't put much into this BB tree, so he coached under him and played for him, he'll have his own ideas of the NFL today.

Exactly how I feel. I'm embracing change instead of not wanting it. As great as Bill has been. He also has held the organization back in many ways the last few seasons. Mayo absolutely respects Bill, but people aren't paying enough attention to the fact Mayo was a player and that command a whole different perspective to coaching.