Dysfunction based on an article that the writers themselves claimed (on Twitter) was unconfirmed when it came to the staff troubles.
If say to you that my article comes after conferring with over a dozen sources employed by the Patriots, that could mean I talked to one person with the Patriots, and then called up 11 others to confirm the story, but they refused.
Two days later I will jump on Twitter and I'll point out that the information about staff squabbles was unconfirmed.
In journalistic talk, that means I could find no second source to confirm what the first source said. And with the way Herald writers operate, it could mean there were actually ZERO sources giving that information, since it is all unconfirmed anyway.
We know what the Patriots were trying to do because they actually put the resources forward to do it: #1 pick on QB, #2 on WR, 5 draft picks spent on IOL, 2 on late round WRs, signed 3 WRs to $11m contracts per year in FA, traded for one with an $8m contract, signed 2 TEs to $14m contracts per year, one TW for $8m. This was the plan. These are all the resources they used.
The plan failed. But now you have to talk about what they could've done otherwise. Like, take Pickens instead of Tyquan (but avoid Treylon Burks at their #20 pick), or take Broderick Jones instead of Gonzalez, Cody Mauch instead of Keion White, or spend $90m on McGlinchey in FA. These are all decisions they could've made. Short of the Tyquan/Pickens pick, I'd say their thinking was correct in all other respects.
