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A few thoughts (only about 400 words) heading into the bye.
1. Losing Christian Gonzalez, Marcus Jones, and Matt Judon to injuries absolutely sucks. Having them probably wouldn't make this a winning team, but at least it'd make them more enjoyable to watch.
2. Pop Douglas is electric, and they need to find more ways to get the ball in his hands.
3. The team needs to move on from Mac Jones this offseason. We can (and almost certainly will) continue to debate how much of it is Jones' fault and how much is Belichick's/the team's fault. But that doesn't change the fact that he's just not going to succeed here. His contract is cheap enough ($2.5M salary next year, for which NE is currently on the hook) that there's a chance to get a draft pick for him.
4. The odds are remote that next year's starting QB is currently on the roster. We'll almost certainly be debating who that person should be for the next 6 months.
5. This team doesn't have enough talent on offense. This is essentially entirely Belichick's fault, since he has final say over the roster.
6. The constant drain on coaching talent has now reached critical mass. It's amazing how many coaches this team has lost, especially on the offensive side, since 2018: Ernie Adams, Dante Scarnecchia, and Ivan Fears are all major losses, and Josh McDaniels took multiple assistants with him when he left. [Admittedly, the loss of Patricia is addition by subtraction, but his incompetence is a factor in the current mess.]
7. One way or another, Belichick's time as HC of the NEP is nearly over. I don't think the Krafts want to fire him, for two reasons: (1) they don't want to pay him big bucks to not coach, and (2) they want to give him the same type of sendoff they're going to give Brady next year.
8. Change is scary. The grass isn't always greener on the other side. We all want to get back to watching the Patriots win playoff games ASAP, but there's no guarantee that if the Patriots replace Belichick, the next guy will do that, either.
9. Change is also necessary. The critical question is how much. Belichick built a flawed roster and botched Jones' development. Do the Krafts trust him to correct those issues enough to give him a second chance, or do they move on to someone new (whether Mayo or someone else)?
10. No matter what, the JEST still suck.
1. Losing Christian Gonzalez, Marcus Jones, and Matt Judon to injuries absolutely sucks. Having them probably wouldn't make this a winning team, but at least it'd make them more enjoyable to watch.
2. Pop Douglas is electric, and they need to find more ways to get the ball in his hands.
3. The team needs to move on from Mac Jones this offseason. We can (and almost certainly will) continue to debate how much of it is Jones' fault and how much is Belichick's/the team's fault. But that doesn't change the fact that he's just not going to succeed here. His contract is cheap enough ($2.5M salary next year, for which NE is currently on the hook) that there's a chance to get a draft pick for him.
4. The odds are remote that next year's starting QB is currently on the roster. We'll almost certainly be debating who that person should be for the next 6 months.
5. This team doesn't have enough talent on offense. This is essentially entirely Belichick's fault, since he has final say over the roster.
6. The constant drain on coaching talent has now reached critical mass. It's amazing how many coaches this team has lost, especially on the offensive side, since 2018: Ernie Adams, Dante Scarnecchia, and Ivan Fears are all major losses, and Josh McDaniels took multiple assistants with him when he left. [Admittedly, the loss of Patricia is addition by subtraction, but his incompetence is a factor in the current mess.]
7. One way or another, Belichick's time as HC of the NEP is nearly over. I don't think the Krafts want to fire him, for two reasons: (1) they don't want to pay him big bucks to not coach, and (2) they want to give him the same type of sendoff they're going to give Brady next year.
8. Change is scary. The grass isn't always greener on the other side. We all want to get back to watching the Patriots win playoff games ASAP, but there's no guarantee that if the Patriots replace Belichick, the next guy will do that, either.
9. Change is also necessary. The critical question is how much. Belichick built a flawed roster and botched Jones' development. Do the Krafts trust him to correct those issues enough to give him a second chance, or do they move on to someone new (whether Mayo or someone else)?
10. No matter what, the JEST still suck.
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