Damien Harris speaks out about the dysfunction on the Patriots offense in 2022

[TomPatriot]

Harris has a lot right but Mac didn’t help himself with his whiny antics. Pats psych profile on him might not have been completely accurate.

 

[BennyBledsoe]

Never ever underestimate what just getting older can do to a coach. At some point, even the BEST coaches just don't want to deal with people that have questions. This includes players AND coaches. Like I've said elsewhere.... basically, by 2022, UNLESS it had worked out beautifully, the hiring Patricia and Judge represented either 1) incredible stupidity to think these guys could handle running a capable NFL offense or 2) stunning arrogance to think that anybody can coach up an offense.

I also love how people are acting like Mac couldn't have improved over the years. Like first year Brady was anywhere near as physical as he became over the ensuing years. That is to say, that with solid coaching, some things can be improved, including arm power. And bringing up that Bills game... look at how Brady performed against the Dolphins in Miami, or Manning against the Patriots... there are some teams, some situations that can catch a QB offguard. Hell, Brady had several games where you could be forgiven for thinking he had finally fell off the cliff.

I'm not saying Mac was going to be the next big thing, what I am saying is that thanks to that mindblowingly disastrous decision, we never had a chance to TRULY figure it out.

 

[archstanton543]

Maybe he just concentrated too much on the defense and let the offense fall apart.

Maybe? Last year's draft should have told you that at the very least.

 

[Dec54]

Arrogance.

It was all so obviously going to be a catastrophe Patricia/Judge running the offence, how could Belichick justify it. I think he totally lost it from then on. I don't think anyone will ever understand the thinking behind it.

 

[Sicilian]

It's hard to argue against anything he said, but I'm guessing it's a tad exaggerated because he was close with Mac personally. Again, not saying things weren't a massive cluster fudge, but I doubt Harris' memory of it is totally objective.

 

[Stu Pidassle]

I am glad Mac is gone. We were going nowhere with him. In fact Bill did a Patriots a solid hiring Patricia he just saved this franchise multiple years in this rebuild.

thank you Bill for saving us from Mac Jones.

Over his three years Mac proved that he was not a franchise QB. He was consistently bad after the bye his rookie season once teams figure him out. MP bought Mac an extra year as the starter. Between his ankle injury and the obvious issues at OC there was enough doubt to give Mac another shot under BOB. Otherwise the team would have had enough info to move on after year 2.

 

[Real fan 02]

The Bill O’Brien offense was a lot of the same. Yes, they brought in a competent OC, but they forced a coaching staff on him that he didn’t want including an o-line coach who was trying to build an o-line to play in a way contrary to how O’Brien wanted to run the offense. And Belichick still refused to build talent around the QB position.

Agreed, and Billy O didn't have full autonomy as an OC.. wich is mind blowing to me. An OC runs the entire offense how could a HC not allow full autonomy. Wow. One thing I'll say is Mayo's given AVP complete autonomy on the offense.

 

[Dec54]

It's hard to argue against anything he said, but I'm guessing it's a tad exaggerated because he was close with Mac personally. Again, not saying things weren't a massive cluster fudge, but I doubt Harris' memory of it is totally objective.

Objective or not. What a bloody mess he left behind him. Will take years to clear up the Belichick mess. How the mighty fall.

 

[Pape]

BB took Josh away?

That's a wtf statement

 

[PatsFan2]

It was all so obviously going to be a catastrophe Patricia/Judge running the offence, how could Belichick justify it. I think he totally lost it from then on. I don't think anyone will ever understand the thinking behind it.

I understand BB thought he was smarter than everybody else and it blew up in his face. No man is an Island hope to see him in the Broadcast booth I can't see him getting another HC gig based on his current circumstances Age and Abysmal GM decisions.

 

[jmt57]

Intentional sabotage will always be in the back of my mind because of just how bad it got. Everyone saw it coming months ahead of time when Judge and Patricia were hired. Slow motion trainwreck would be putting it lightly.

If it was 'intentional sabotage' then the question that begs to be answered is "why"?

What is the purpose, what is the upside, what is the end game for intentional sabotage?

I can't think of a legitimate answer. Especially for a person who is so into the history of the game, that was closing in on the all-time wins record. That would be the ultimate longterm prize for a head coach, an historic record to bookend with the single season success of six super bowl championships.


In my opinion there is a far more likely explanation.

It could be, as mentioned previously, that Belichick simply overestimated his own ability and the abilities of others he hired/trusted (such as Patricia and Judge).

Another explanation, a corresponding side effect, is that as he got older, he relied more and more on an ever decreasing circle of friends and colleagues. In this case rather than leave his comfort zone and hire a competent OC that he had never worked with before, he hired two trusted, familiar comrades, from an ever dwindling list of possible choices that met his sole criteria.

 

[PatsFan2]

It's hard to argue against anything he said, but I'm guessing it's a tad exaggerated because he was close with Mac personally. Again, not saying things weren't a massive cluster fudge, but I doubt Harris' memory of it is totally objective.

Harris is an absolute class act he just honestly said what most of us thought here. Yess Mac had his Issues but BB did him no favors with roster management and head scratching Coordinator decisions.

 

[sb1]

It was all so obviously going to be a catastrophe Patricia/Judge running the offence, how could Belichick justify it. I think he totally lost it from then on. I don't think anyone will ever understand the thinking behind it.

Yes. That’s when he lost me.

 

[Toofy]

I understand BB thought he was smarter than everybody else and it blew up in his face. No man is an Island hope to see him in the Broadcast booth I can't see him getting another HC gig based on his current circumstances Age and Abysmal GM decisions.

After this interview by Harris , no way does he get a HC interview . Not saying everything stated by Harris is gospel, but there seems to be so much truth in what he stated and if it's obvious to fans before the season started , it says something about bills foresight which is very crucial for a NFL coach.

 

[Sicilian]

Harris is an absolute class act he just honestly said what most of us thought here. Yess Mac had his Issues but BB did him no favors with roster management and head scratching Coordinator decisions.

Sure, I'm not claiming Harris is lying or anything. But the fact remains if things were half as bad as people like Harris claim they were, no way in hell that team goes 8-9. You ALWAYS have to consider bias when taking a person's personal account of a situation. Memory isn't a photograph. It's an incredibly unreliable thing that is often an amalgamation of things that actually happened, things you misremember, and things that happened but are heavily colored by emotions you were feeling at the time. That's all I'm saying. Harris has some objective reasons for what he says, but he also has an emotional reason to defend his boy.

 

[ahmed]

I was wondering about that but Julian's Games With Names with Matt Light changed my view on it. It was pretty obvious from their comments that Bill favored the defense when coaching. Maybe he just concentrated too much on the defense and let the offense fall apart.

This was always obvious from his favourite players to resource allocation.

 

[Wozzy]

Mac fell off a cliff after week 13 his rookie year when Harris told us everything was perfect.

He sucked from the bye week on and for the next two years. He just sucked.

Mahomes, Burrow, Herbert, Stroud... these guys wouldn't have sucked.

 

[Real fan 02]

“Stuck in his ways”

That’s why 72 year old head coaches tend to stay unemployed

Yes. Is why blank chose another direction after his front office had concerns about how the organization's set up would be vastly different.

 

[ahmed]

Never ever underestimate what just getting older can do to a coach. At some point, even the BEST coaches just don't want to deal with people that have questions. This includes players AND coaches. Like I've said elsewhere.... basically, by 2022, UNLESS it had worked out beautifully, the hiring Patricia and Judge represented either 1) incredible stupidity to think these guys could handle running a capable NFL offense or 2) stunning arrogance to think that anybody can coach up an offense.

I also love how people are acting like Mac couldn't have improved over the years. Like first year Brady was anywhere near as physical as he became over the ensuing years. That is to say, that with solid coaching, some things can be improved, including arm power. And bringing up that Bills game... look at how Brady performed against the Dolphins in Miami, or Manning against the Patriots... there are some teams, some situations that can catch a QB offguard. Hell, Brady had several games where you could be forgiven for thinking he had finally fell off the cliff.

I'm not saying Mac was going to be the next big thing, what I am saying is that thanks to that mindblowingly disastrous decision, we never had a chance to TRULY figure it out.

Using Brady's progression as an example is just dumb. Like that was something typical.

It was obvious Mac was going to fail from literally day 1. Zero confidence, no leadership, no pocket presence, floating passes, panic in the face of rush. It was red flag galore.

 

[Steve102]

It could be, as mentioned previously, that Belichick simply overestimated his own ability and the abilities of others he hired/trusted (such as Patricia and Judge).

Another explanation is that as he got older, he relied more and more on an ever decreasing circle of friends and colleagues. In this case rather than leave his comfort zone and hire a competent OC that he had never worked with before, he hired two trusted, familiar comrades, from an ever dwindling list of possible choices that met his sole criteria.

Both are true.