Ringer Article: Will Bill Belichick’s Big Coaching Gamble Backfire?

[Rob0729]

That doesn't explain Jones missing MORE open receivers this year.
It doesn't explain his poor mechanics (something he supposedly worked on with Tom House).

They didn't incorporate "a lot of zone blocking". They already had zone blocking in their scheme according to Scarnecchia. He'd know better than any of the guys covering the Pats currently.

They DID incorporate more RPOs. Something that has been pointed out as something that Mac used well in college.

The "Speed" that the Outside Zone blocking is supposed to help is that of the RBs. Harris and Stevenson BOTH have the necessary speed. They aren't Tyreek Hill or Ty Thornton, but they have plenty of speed for those plays. In fact, the Outside runs have been some of their best all season.

The coaching staff is at fault on the offense for it being somewhat predictable.
WE have no idea if Mac is changing plays out of Play-Action when he's at the line or if the Coaches aren't giving him those plays. Some have mentioned that the Coaching staff seems to be wanting to keep Mac's eyes downfield, even on running plays.

There could be two reasons for this. One is that the O-line (including the TEs) aren't doing their job. Some of which we've seen. The O-line play has continued to be inconsistent with the exception of Onwenu. Andrews was exposed again to being unable to properly identify the late blitz.

The other reason is MAC. People have seen him eyeballing receivers. People have seen him miss multiple wide-open receivers on the same play. People have seem him fail to recognize a defensive change because he's NOT scanning the field pre-snap the way he should be. People have seen Mac go through his progressions too quickly. Other times not fast enough. It's mostly mental things. I think that MAC, instead of being MAC, tried to be Brady 2.0. That, in conjunction with Joe Judge not being a capable QB coach (yes, I'm convinced now) have hurt Jones.

It's safe to say that Joe Judge should not be the QB coach. I initially defended the hiring because he did have some experience with the position and I wasn't willing to blame him for Daniel Jones, but the proof is in the pudding, as they say. Look at what Daniel Jones is doing with Brian Daboll as his HC and former Patriots QB Mike Kafka as his OC. Four 4th Quarter Comebacks with 5 Game winning drives.

I think your statement on Parker is slightly erroneous. He's more than a possession receiver. He's always played Outside the numbers. His forte is jump balls, back shoulder passes, and toe-stepping the sidelines. The last two were supposedly MAC's FORTE coming out of Alabama. The number of times we've seen those plays can be counted on one hand, though and that is a COACHING issue.

There is blame to go around. It's not JUST MAC or JUST the Coaching. It's a combination. The only one who can sort it out completely is Belichick. We know he's not afraid to admit mistakes, even with Coaching staff. (Corwin Brown / Dave Guglielmo) My only hope is that there is no permanent damage to Jones when the season is done.

I am not giving Jones a free pass, but Patricia is making it extremely hard for Jones to succeed. Jones has his issues, but even if he was playing like he was midway through last year he would be struggling to overcome Patricia's coasching. Hell, I think Brady would have issues with Patricia's coaching and play calling. It has been awful.

Like him or hate him, McDaniels always tried to put his players in the best position to succeed. If the players failed, it was 100% on them. Not this year.

And a possession receiver is not a deep threat receiver. DeVante Parker is the Pats' deep threat receiver. He isn't suited for it. His forte is jump balls 10-15 yards down the field, not 20-30 or longer.

And the o-linemen need to have speed for zone blocking and most of the o-line doesn't have it. If you are running an outside zone run, you need your tackles to get the outside blocks quickly. Who cares if Harris and Stevenson are fast enough to run an outside zone if there are a wall wall of defenders waiting for them because the o-line is too slow to get out there and tackle them.

Jones has regressed, but I put a lot of the regression on Patricia and Judge. We have seen hundreds of first round picks at QB get ruined by bad coaching. Some of them might have turned out to be good players if they had good coaching. We are seeing Fields starting to emerge now that they are coaching him better. We are seeing Trevor Lawrence being held back by crappy coaching. Geno Smith is emerging now that he is being coached well. I would argue that Mahomes would have been a disaster if he didn't have Reid because you can see a lot of his reckless tendencies come out when he is under durance, Many young QBs need to coddled.

 

[DaBruinz]

I am not giving Jones a free pass, but Patricia is making it extremely hard for Jones to succeed. Jones has his issues, but even if he was playing like he was midway through last year he would be struggling to overcome Patricia's coasching. Hell, I think Brady would have issues with Patricia's coaching and play calling. It has been awful.

Like him or hate him, McDaniels always tried to put his players in the best position to succeed. If the players failed, it was 100% on them. Not this year.

And a possession receiver is not a deep threat receiver. DeVante Parker is the Pats' deep threat receiver. He isn't suited for it. His forte is jump balls 10-15 yards down the field, not 20-30 or longer.

And the o-linemen need to have speed for zone blocking and most of the o-line doesn't have it. If you are running an outside zone run, you need your tackles to get the outside blocks quickly. Who cares if Harris and Stevenson are fast enough to run an outside zone if there are a wall wall of defenders waiting for them because the o-line is too slow to get out there and tackle them.

Jones has regressed, but I put a lot of the regression on Patricia and Judge. We have seen hundreds of first round picks at QB get ruined by bad coaching. Some of them might have turned out to be good players if they had good coaching. We are seeing Fields starting to emerge now that they are coaching him better. We are seeing Trevor Lawrence being held back by crappy coaching. Geno Smith is emerging now that he is being coached well. I would argue that Mahomes would have been a disaster if he didn't have Reid because you can see a lot of his reckless tendencies come out when he is under durance, Many young QBs need to coddled.

So, you know MORE than Dante Scarnecchia when it comes to Outside Zone Blocking.

Examples of possession receivers are Anquan Boldin, Jakobi Meyers, and David Givens. Parker is MORE than just a possession receiver. You clearly don't understand that concept with how you keep stating that he's ONLY one.

There is nothing more for you to say on the subject, honestly.. Have a good one.

 

[Rob0729]

So, you know MORE than Dante Scarnecchia when it comes to Outside Zone Blocking.

Examples of possession receivers are Anquan Boldin, Jakobi Meyers, and David Givens. Parker is MORE than just a possession receiver. You clearly don't understand that concept with how you keep stating that he's ONLY one.

There is nothing more for you to say on the subject, honestly.. Have a good one.

Scar isn't coaching this team anymore. But anyone can see this team cannot run an outside zone run for the life of them. Other than maybe a rare play have the Pats have not been successful at it all year.

And a possession receiver is a move the sticks receiver. They are there to pick up the first down, not the home run pass. They are the guy that is reliable to pick up the yards needed in a given situation, not 30 yards on first down. The Patriots use Parker as a deep threat receiver a lot of the time, not a possession receiver.

 

[captain stone]

That's what you got from that bit? That Mac is to blame?

They're ALL to blame, including the offensive OL as well as Phatt Matt & Judge Joey... Yet Zappy seemed to rise above all that suck better than Corky has done at any point during the season...

 

[PScottman]

Building a coaching staff is what Bill has done very well over the years. However over the last several years, our assistant coaching group has been RAVAGED by losses as we've had 4 prior assistants get HCing jobs. And that is compounded by they fact is that each of those guys take a couple of guys to go with them FURTHER depleting the assistant ranks. SO just like it takes some time to build a contending team, it takes time to build a "contending" coaching staff.

The one resource no one can ever give more of is time, and it's the one resource that both players AND coaches always need more of.

Your observation here is brilliant in its simplicity - the fact that a new coach (whoever it is, even if they are already an OC) will need time to understand such things as the players, the rest of the staff, the opposing coaches, and many other variables before they are able to demonstrate consistently their capability is 100% spot on.

Fans tend toward the "magic" solution. Player issue? Just throw _________ in there = problem solved. Coaching issue? Hire______________ and tomorrow that offense will be going for 500 yards a game!

How many new hires have shown up at your job and been totally acclimated and producing at a high level in that companies' processes from day one? I'm going to bet a very low, or non-existent, number. Football is no different, yet we act like it is.

Great point Ken.