Interesting insight into the Pats defense.....

[DaBruinz]

So, according to Musketfire.com, after losing to Dallas in OT, BB took over the defensive calling and the Patriots went on the 7 game win streak. After that, he gave the defense back to Mayo/Steve for the remainder of the season and the defense fell apart.

Bizarre Bill Belichick decision explains Patriots’ defensive downfall in 2021

It would also seem that Mayo and Steven weren't always on the same page, leading to confusion in the position rooms as well as on the field.

Personally, I would give MAYO the DC position and move Steve somewhere else. Maybe Scouting DBs. He did a heckuva job developing them..

It's clear that MAYO is the better candidate. Especially with him being considered for HC positions. Some people are great positional coaches and horrible coordinators. And I think that Steve, unfortunately, falls into that description.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

Time for Kraft to step in and make bb eliminate the nepotism.

I’m thinking young Steven could not get laid in a women’s prison, let alone call a defense.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

I read a story near the end of the season stating the same thing, BB must see this and know how to correct it.

 

[MrBigglesWorth]

Make Steven special teams coordinator. Its a way to save face with special teams needing improvement

 

[FCB02062]

if this is true it is an abomination of a decision...but this smells like something Team Bill put out there to save his face....and yes, I think Bills the type of guy that'd throw his own kid under the bus

 

[stinkypete]

Time for Kraft to step in and make bb eliminate the nepotism.

I’m thinking young Steven could not get laid in a women’s prison, let alone call a defens

You're telling me the tongue tornado wouldn't have a shot at a women's prison?

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Make Steven special teams coordinator. Its a way to save face with special teams needing improvement

View attachment 40519
You're telling me the tongue tornado wouldn't have a shot at a women's prison?

He does put the "special" in special teams.

 

[slash83]

Steve has no business calling the defense

 

[Ochmed Jones]

“Hello, welcome to arby’s, my name is Steven, would you like any curly fries with your order?”

 

[Brotherblues]

Total speculation. We don't know how the defense was handled, BB and staff don't talk about it to the media or anyone else, and I'm not taking some random media person's word that he got his hands on that scoop.

I see the "collapse" through a very simple lens. They played 5 good offenses all year without a downpour or hurricane winds. The D got smoked in 4 of those 5 games. Most of them, including the 2nd and 3rd Buffalo games, just happened to be after the bye.

 

[venecol]

It's funny that DropKickFlutie was saying all season long that Bill was letting his staff make decisions. He did think Little Steven was doing a good job though.

 

[patsfanfromoversea]

Why didn’t bill interfere again then after giving the defense back and seeing they played poor again

 

[*ChungFu*]

Well, the article has brought out the rash responses so, mission accomplished.
Funny how Mayo receives a pass here and bears little responsibility. What part of the season did he most affect? None of it? Most of it? Too little to matter? What was he put on ice to bolster his resume? It doesn't jibe that Mayo deserves an HC position and SB deserves a timeout in the corner until the whole situation is assessed and I doubt that any reporter has that info.

 

[Gumby]

So, according to Musketfire.com, after losing to Dallas in OT, BB took over the defensive calling and the Patriots went on the 7 game win streak. After that, he gave the defense back to Mayo/Steve for the remainder of the season and the defense fell apart.

Bizarre Bill Belichick decision explains Patriots’ defensive downfall in 2021

It would also seem that Mayo and Steven weren't always on the same page, leading to confusion in the position rooms as well as on the field.

Personally, I would give MAYO the DC position and move Steve somewhere else. Maybe Scouting DBs. He did a heckuva job developing them..

It's clear that MAYO is the better candidate. Especially with him being considered for HC positions. Some people are great positional coaches and horrible coordinators. And I think that Steve, unfortunately, falls into that description.

Not sure how much I trust the source on this:

. Adam Weinrib is a writer, comedian, producer, and dedicated Jimmy Key fan born in Brooklyn and raised upstate in the way weirder New York town of Croton-on-Hudson. In addition to Bronx Pinstripes, Adam contributes to ClickHole, Onion Sports, …..

working for a Queef-Chef-fan founded-website???

he does quote Lazar a bit which gives him a little credibility.

but anyway; imo BB has always delegated way more than he got public credit for.
There could be some truth to him being more hands off especially when the ST went to crap and needed help.
but maybe he wasn’t so micromanaging before the bye either.

i do think he needs 3 very strong coordinators. Next year. He is o/a70. McDaniels leaving ST crap, and D needs a single voice.

IMO He got into the habit while we were winning of not naming a DC to try and protect the continuity/coach tree from poaching. …… well I think we are safe there for st least one-two years (and they reach 2-Level down to steal them anyway ex: Mayo/Flores).

i tend to like the Mayo or outside coach to be named later answers. OC and STC: ??

 

[RobertWeathers]

Make Steven special teams coordinator. Its a way to save face with special teams needing improvement

We have no idea if that would be an upgrade.

Judge would be

 

[Sicilian]

It's interesting to me that people jump on this, and assume that all of the fault lies with Steve and not Mayo, given we really have no information on how responsibilities were divided during the season. To me that indicates people have pre-conceived notions about Steve and the situation, and are basically using this to say everything bad about the 2021 defense was on him, and everything good about it was all Mayo or Bill.

I personally don't know what happened, but I think two very simple things were definitely at play: There wasn't a unified voice for the defense, which regardless of talent makes things less efficient. And this team had paper thin depth at corner, which is tough to scheme around against any offense, but even more so against a team like the Bills who are four deep at WR and playing their best football.

I know human nature is to find THE guy to blame when things go wrong, but these situations are almost never that black and white.

 

[Patriot Missile]

Had never heard that. If true, that explains a lot and at least gives us some hope that the defense can get back to its winning ways.

 

[MahomestoKelce]

As an outsider, should Belichick have taken control of the D after they struggled coming out of the bye?

I know doing both is alot. But I believe the Patriots are better off with Belichick as the full time defensive coordinator. His game plans and schemes. His on the fly calls.

Historically, it seems the defense is better when Belichick is running it.

 

[Rob0729]

I posted that Greg Bedard said the same thing right after the Bills' loss and a lot of people poo-pooed it as excuse making for Belichick. I countered that either way it is on Belichick because Belichick gave away control of the defense at the most crucial time of the season and the dual responsibility screwed with the chemistry of the defense. That is on Belichick.

 

[venecol]

My biggest concern is the leadership void that's coming with the departure of the last of the dynasty players. Even with the few remaining ones (mostly on D) this season, we witnessed a disconnect between players and coaches. For the so called Patriots Way to work, it requires buy-in by young and veteran players.

We've heard from former veterans how Brady was the catalyst to players buying into Bill's system. They would witness Brady being lectured and treated like everyone else, Bill would use him as an example to get team friendly contracts, and they would win, a lot, under his leadership.

With so many younger players that are just so different than the former generations of young players, the HC getting older and having less energy to do it all, and the loss of players and leaders to help the buy-in; it seems the best thing to do is bury the dynasty once and for all and bring in new, fresh coaches to help the team transition to the eventual post-BB era. This team needs talented players to be contenders. The days of winning with middle of the road talent are over.