Mac Jones Says Patriots Offense Was Run by 3 People and nobody knew who was in charge

[Rob0729]

It was fortunate for us that Belichick was fired when he was, had he remained Drake Maye would be playing in Minnesota and the Patriots would still be without a franchise quarterback.

That may be very well true. Even the reports that Belichick would have rather not take Mac and take Davis Mills in the second round wasn't because he didn't think Mac was good, but that he didn't believe in taking a QB with that pick. He also passed on Lamar Jackson even though Jackson dropped to the Patriots after expecting to be drafted much higher and McDaniels advocating for Jackson. And Belichick when giving his analysis of the Maye pick draft night focused on Maye being a raw and inexperienced and didn't seem that high on him.



So all the evidence points to the likelihood of Belichick not selecting Maye in that draft if he was with the Patriots. I think he would have made the trade with the Vikings and drafted JJ McCarthy or Bo Nix.

 

[Borg140]

I think Kraft would've come full circle and reenacted the draft room with Parcells in 1996 and forcing him to take Maye. However, that would've already been understood as one of the conditions Bill returning in 2024.

It seemed like a ****ty move on Kraft for firing BB so quickly after giving him 20 years of competitive teams. But Bill was seriously losing it and derailing this team after Brady left. We talk about how bad his drafting was getting, but his poor cap management was flying under the radar. He was hoarding bad players on defense/special teams who were clogging up the cap along with the bad contracts they already had at WR/TE.

His main problem imo was that he became so insular. He refused to bring in new blood to the coaching staff and I believe he really thought he could just do it all, which led to the Patricia decision and other bad calls. He lost his fastball a few years before that imo, but his decision to move Patricia to OC was a career killer.

 

[Rob0729]

I think Kraft would've come full circle and reenacted the draft room with Parcells in 1996 and forcing him to take Maye. However, that would've already been understood as one of the conditions Bill returning in 2024.

It seemed like a ****ty move on Kraft for firing BB so quickly after giving him 20 years of competitive teams. But Bill was seriously losing it and derailing this team after Brady left. We talk about how bad his drafting was getting, but his poor cap management was flying under the radar. He was hoarding bad players on defense/special teams who were clogging up the cap along with the bad contracts they already had at WR/TE.

I have no problem with Kraft firing Belichick. Why? Because if the roles were reversed and Belichick was the owner and Kraft was the head coach with the same success as Belichick, Belichick wouldn't think twice about firing Kraft. If Brady didn't decide to leave and he had another year like 2019 in 2020, I wouldn't have been been shocked if Belichick cut him.

Belichick was rarely sentimental when it came to personnel decisions. He either traded away or let players walk like Seymour, Law, Vinatieri, and Vrabel. The only player I can remember him basically stick around even after his play on the field declined was Troy Brown. But that was in part because the receiving corp was awful and he could do other things like returns and play defense.

 

[DaBruinz]

His main problem imo was that he became so insular. He refused to bring in new blood to the coaching staff and I believe he really thought he could just do it all, which led to the Patricia decision and other bad calls. He lost his fastball a few years before that imo, but his decision to move Patricia to OC was a career killer.

Just because BB brought back Patricia and Judge doesn't mean he wasnt bringing in new blood. Belichick was always hiring young coaches to work from the ground up. That's how he felt coaches should move up in the organization.

The list of coaches that Belichick has helped to develop into excellent coaches/coordinators is pretty long even if most haven't had success as a HC.

Below is the list of outside coaches Belichick hired during his last 3 years:

In 2021, Belichick hired guys like Billy Yates (Asst. O-line), Bo Hardegree (Asst QB) and Evan Rothstein (Offensive Analytics)
In 2022, Belichick hired Ross Douglas (WR), V'Angelo Bentley (Def. Asst) , and Tyler Hughes (Off. Asst)
In 2023, Belichick hired Adrian Klemm (OL), Will Lawing (TE), and Keith Jones (Def. Asst) .

Of the 9, only Yates and Klemm has any "direct relation" to the team. And their relation was only that they'd played here. Both got their coaching chops wet at other stops before being hired by the Pats.

Just because he didn't hire an OC or DC from outside the organization doesn't mean he refused to bring in "new blood". He didn't believe that putting people from outside the organization into positions of authority (OC/DC) was the proper way to run an organization.

I agree that BB listening to Patricia tell him that he (Patricia) could implement the Shanahan Outside Zone scheme on the offense was a career killer. Patricia allowed his ego to get in the way of getting the job done. Patricia refused to use the assets available to him. Mainly Kendrick Bourne and Trent Brown. Both of whom had experience in that scheme. It's what led to the arguments between Patricia and Bourne and Bourne landing in the doghouse.

I think that things started falling apart when Brady decided to leave after the discussions with Belichick and Kraft. I believe that Kraft, despite all his claims that he thought of Brady like a son, I believe that Kraft told Brady that an ownership stake in the Patriots after his playing career was done was a non-starter. I believe that Jonathan went and hired Wolf and Groh when it decided that they would be the drivers in the draft process. I think it didn't help BB that nearly every time he relied on Josh McDaniels for player input during the top rounds of the draft, that the Player had issues. N'Keal Harry was only the latest of the offensive skill players that McDaniels recommended that was a failure.

 

[DaBruinz]

I have no problem with Kraft firing Belichick. Why? Because if the roles were reversed and Belichick was the owner and Kraft was the head coach with the same success as Belichick, Belichick wouldn't think twice about firing Kraft. If Brady didn't decide to leave and he had another year like 2019 in 2020, I wouldn't have been been shocked if Belichick cut him.

Belichick was rarely sentimental when it came to personnel decisions. He either traded away or let players walk like Seymour, Law, Vinatieri, and Vrabel. The only player I can remember him basically stick around even after his play on the field declined was Troy Brown. But that was in part because the receiving corp was awful and he could do other things like returns and play defense.

He did the same with Bruschi. And later with Deion Branch and Jonathan Jones.

 

[Rob0729]

He did the same with Bruschi. And later with Deion Branch and Jonathan Jones.

Bruschi retired in camp. I have always thought Belichick gave him the opportunity to retire rather than being cut. I know it is speculation, but a logic speculation. He wasn’t great his last year with the Pats, but he didn’t go two years of being a shell of himself like Troy did. Troy was more of DB at times than a WR his last few years.

And Branch sucked his last year with the Patriots, but was decent the two previous years. He only spent about 2 1/2 years with the Pats after they traded for him back from Seattle. And of course, Belichick traded him Seattle rather than pay him. I don’t see the same as Troy either.

 

[Wozzy]

The fact of the matter is the last two years of the Belichick era, the offense was trash. You can blame Mac Jones for part of it, but it doesn't explain the complete mess the offense was. The o-line couldn't block for the life of them. The receivers were constantly running routes where they all were in bunches allowing defenses to easily defend them. Hell the receivers were running into each other. And offense was still putrid when they replaced Jones with Zappe.

They almost won the Green Bay game Zappe entered when Mac got injured, then went 2-0 over Zappe's next two starts. Zappe's two starts were the two highest point totals by the Patriots in the entire 2022 season. They were better with Zappe.

Mac Jones was good under McDaniels and was good last year filling in for Brock Purdy. He wasn't even that bad when he filled in for Trevor Lawrence in Jacksonville. He showed that in a good offense, he can be a good QB. He was never going to a top QB. But he could have been an average or even an above average QB in the right system.

He was set up to fail here. But he didn't handle it right. A mentally stronger QB with better talent could have handled the situation much better. Brady could have found a way to at least be decent, but he is Brady.

Mac was set up for success in 2021 and folded after 13 games, or what he played in a typical college season.

He looked terrible after the bye and into the playoffs. He sucked... turnover machine. Then he never looked good again.

He looked strong for a second in Jacksonville then faded, did the same as a starter for the 49ers.

He's a backup. Not bad, but for a first round pick... a bust.

But Brady wanted to leave here for some of the same reason that undid Jones. Brady didn't believe there was an effort to build a winning team around him and he was asked to elevate bad to average talent. He had a so-so 2019 season because of it.

How could Tom believe there wasn't an effort to build a winning team, coming off four Super Bowl appearances and three rings?

“I think what makes it such a challenge, it’s hard to win one Super Bowl,” Brady said. “There’s salary caps. You just can’t go buy a football team." - Tom Brady

Tom wanted to leave because he understood the salary cap, and because his wife was nagging him to move to Florida.

I think the disaster of the Mac Jones era falls on a number of people's shoulders and that includes both Jones and Belichick.

Collaboration.

In hindsight, I am glad that the Jones era was a failure. Without that failure, we wouldn't see Drake Maye in a Patriots' uniform and may not have Mike Vrabel as a head coach. But the failure is a lot people's fault. Blaming Mac Jones or Belichick solely is rewriting history.

Don't overlook the Mayo era, without that disaster we wouldn't have gotten Vrabel.

Drake Maye was on that 4 win team in 2024... it took Vrabel to make it right.

It takes coaches and players... team.

 

[Wozzy]

That may be very well true. Even the reports that Belichick would have rather not take Mac and take Davis Mills in the second round wasn't because he didn't think Mac was good, but that he didn't believe in taking a QB with that pick.

No, it's because he didn't have a high first round grade on Mac. The position wasn't the reason. If you have a similar grade on Davis Mills as Mac, a second round prospect at best, you don't use the first round pick. They assign all of these draft prospects a grade, you don't reach for need.

He also passed on Lamar Jackson even though Jackson dropped to the Patriots after expecting to be drafted much higher and McDaniels advocating for Jackson.

Lamar Jackson has never won in the playoffs on one of the best rosters in the NFL. BB was correct to pass on Lamar.

Also you can't cry about Brady leaving over surrounding talent in one breath, then say Bill should have used a first on Lamar. Either you're all in on winning rings, or you're eyeing the future.

So all the evidence points to the likelihood of Belichick not selecting Maye in that draft if he was with the Patriots. I think he would have made the trade with the Vikings and drafted JJ McCarthy or Bo Nix.

There is no evidence. His job for ESPN was to be a critical eye and truly scout these guys. He did that. He also called Drake a "freak athlete." Nobody knows what he would have done.