The inside story of the Patriots’ fall to rock bottom in the Bill Belichick era

[203Pat]

There were better tackles in FA than what they signed and there were tackles taken in the draft...the guy the Browns picked up from Ohio Dawand Jones was hyped and just fell to the 4th round...That is a devastating oversight

We took a backup center who has played 1% of the offensive snaps 4 picks before Jones went.

 

[VrabelJr]

There were better tackles in FA than what they signed and there were tackles taken in the draft...the guy the Browns picked up from Ohio Dawand Jones was hyped and just fell to the 4th round...That is a devastating oversight

Why did 32 franchises pass on him 3 times and 14 franchises pass on him a fourth time?

 

[203Pat]

The main issue to me is that Kraft forced BoB on Bill. It's not surprising that it lead to the domino effect that we've seen with our offense this year.

Whatever happens next year and going forward whether it's Bill or a new regime, Kraft needs to stay out of football decisions.

This also now makes sense why BoB made the chain of command comment when he was asked about benching Mac.

Kraft doesn't strike me as a meddler unless it is absolutely necessary and to me at least, ending the Patricia experiment was absolutely necessary. Bill basically made a mockery of the offense last year and I am sure the letter Kraft sent was a direct reaction to how things went with Patrica and Judge as offensive coaches. My biggest issue is Bill not realizing it wasn't working on his own.

 

[Nunchucks]

Why did 32 franchises pass on him 3 times and 14 franchises pass on him a fourth time?

Who the faulk cares. They should have taken a 4th round flier on the guy because of the massive holes they had at tackle.

Instead they took a kicker who sucks and a center who is MIA

 

[203Pat]

Why did 32 franchises pass on him 3 times and 14 franchises pass on him a fourth time?

This dumb argument. Because he interviewed poorly and said some nonsense about how he's rather play basketball or something stupid. He was projected as a second round pick who fell and was right there in the 4th to take a flier on at position of need and Bill took a backup center.

 

[venecol]

The main issue to me is that Kraft forced BoB on Bill. It's not surprising that it lead to the domino effect that we've seen with our offense this year.

Whatever happens next year and going forward whether it's Bill or a new regime, Kraft needs to stay out of football decisions.

This also now makes sense why BoB made the chain of command comment when he was asked about benching Mac.

Sorry but that's BS. Bill wanted to keep Patricia. Kraft wouldn't have it. Bill could've brought in a number of qualified coaches with coordinating experience. Instead, he interviewed nobody with coordinating experience aside from BoB. He knew what he was doing. This is not on Kraft.

 

[mike_usagisan]

This dumb argument. Because he interviewed poorly and said some nonsense about how he's rather play basketball or something stupid. He was projected as a second round pick who fell and was right there in the 4th to take a flier on at position of need and Bill took a backup center.

I think everyone is right on this one. There was a reason he fell, but he was still worth a 4th round flier, especially since we had so many 4ths to use and were desperate for OT. We didn't know how desperate we'd be until camp when it came out how sick Anderson was.

The point is, whether you think there were better FAs and draft prospects this last year or not, that Bill didn't make the right decisions to address the need before it became glaringly obvious. Now it's still a dire need and we can add QB as another.

 

[Steve102]

Sorry but that's BS. Bill wanted to keep Patricia. Kraft wouldn't have it. Bill could've brought in a number of qualified coaches with coordinating experience. Instead, he interviewed nobody with coordinating experience aside from BoB. He knew what he was doing. This is not on Kraft.

He wants his voice to be the only voice, allowing no room for other coaches to contribute beyond whatever message Bill is putting out.

It’s a mess. He didn’t used to be this way. It’s a shame that it ends this way.

 

[VrabelJr]

Who the faulk cares. They should have taken a 4th round flier on the guy because of the massive holes they had at tackle.

Instead they took a kicker who sucks and a center who is MIA

Dawand Jones was drafted before Ryland but I can't fault you for not knowing how the draft order works. Sequentially increasing numbers are hard.

Jake Andrews was a fine pick. There's definitely a scenario where David Andrews gets hurt and we would have been screwed without any backup Center.

 

[Keyser Söze]

I had been warming to the idea of BB staying. It’s clear there is too much dysfunction for that to happen. It would be a mistake for Kraft to bring him back.

 

[203Pat]

Dawand Jones was drafted before Ryland but I can't fault you for not knowing how the draft order works. Sequentially increasing numbers are hard.

Jake Andrews was a fine pick. There's definitely a scenario where David Andrews gets hurt and we would have been screwed without any backup Center.

Dawand Jones started 9 games and by all accounts seemed to get better as the season progressed until an injury. Andrews has played 1% of the offensive snaps and backs up really the only entrenched starter on the offensive line. What exactly makes Andrews a "fine" pick in your estimation?

 

[upstater1]

Weird how the articles complaining about the lack of investment at tackle fail to mention that the author’s proposed free agent signing was Jawaan Taylor, simultaneously the most expensive and worst of the FA tackles. That’s the second in three days, following Graff (The Athletic) a couple days ago. No, the Patriots’ plan at tackle didn’t work out. It’s still significantly less bad than signing Taylor to that contract.

Journalists are allowed to be as idiotic as possible with their hit pieces.

The fact that fans would rather have Mauch or Steen here than Keion White tells you everything. You're not going to the Super Bowl if you take Mauch over White. People are perplexed over taking Gonzalez instead of Broderick Jones.

I thought the goal here was going to the Super Bowl and winning. Filling needs instead of taking future Pro Bowlers is not the way to do that.

 

[upstater1]

The hardest part is the Gonzalez pick. I sort of said this at the time, but that pick was more of a luxury than an absolute necessity, as we've obviously seen. They haven't been great, but they've been adequate there even with him out of the lineup.

Don't get me wrong, they absolutely will benefit by having a shut-down corner to build around, and I love Gonzalez as a player. I'm sure that one will pay dividends down the road, especially given that they'll have him under contract for the foreseeable future. But at the same time, it's tough, because tackle was a bigger need.

It's rare that every single gamble doesn't pay off, but aside from Vederian Lowe - who has struggled - they whiffed on every other stopgap attempt they made, to the point where it took Onwenu panning out to stop what could have been an even worse situation, all things considered. Just a crazy situation that is still hard to believe worked out as badly as it did.

You're trying to build a Super Bowl team.

Filling a need with a guy who we don't even know if he's any good (Broderick Jones) while passing on a player like Gonzalez, it's not going to get you over the top. I'd much rather they go for Gonzalez in a situation like that, or Keion White over Mauch/Steen.

I agree with you in the sense that they have to bite the bullet eventually. They may have to take Joe Alt this year even though Jayden Daniels is available (i.e. trade down), or they may have to reach for Guyton/Morgan even though a WR like Legette is available. You're right, BUT it's hard to pass up a future Pro Bowler like Gonzalez.

 

[203Pat]

Team Bill is reeling here. Better send the bat signal out to Andy to have him come in here and argue in circles to derail the thread.

 

[upstater1]

Yeah, the FA tackles that were available were overrated. Also, unless they moved up in the draft, they weren't going to get a good one. The real problem was that by ignoring tackle in the draft for the last few years, it left the team in a place where tackle was an absolute need but they weren't able to get one.

The problem is that they were shut out in the drafts. Belichick was taken by surprise. As I followed the 2021 draft, it was clear that guys who were slotted to go end of 1st or early 2nd ended up in the top 20. When Penning went there, the ESPN guys all gasped. All those linemen in the first 20 picks, gone. And Belichick was left with nothing over what was a clear need in 2021 already (they had to know by then that Wynn couldn't cut it at LT). I think this is what lead to the trade back with Strange.

 

[Nikolai]

Quite the BB dunk fest in here. Personally, I find the whole thing unfortunate, disturbing, and a bit sad.

All of the following requires a caveat that we do not know for certain the veracity of the article, even if there is likely at least a reasonable degree of truth:

1. BB has overseen increasing and unforgivable dysfunction in the staff dynamics. Whether it is because of his increasing paranoia after so many high-level guys have left over recent years, or paranoia stemming from the various NYFL witch hunts over the years, or something else, the focus on a "circle of trust" rather than a competent coaching staff is a massive failing.

I used to be on the "Keep BB as coach, not as GM" train, then wavered back and forth on whether we should keep him as a coach. I mostly settled on "I have no ****ing idea". If all of this is true, you would probably have to put me on the side of offering him a chance to resign, out of respect for his achievements. I don't see how he can come back from this.

2. That said, if we think sending BB into retirement will help anything in the near term, it's highly unlikely. We will likely lose key pieces of the braintrust that put together a pretty decent defense, and we still have a massive talent issue on offense and special teams. I hope we catch lightning in a bottle and can contend for the playoffs in the next few years, but it is almost as likely that we may wander the desert of disappointment for a decade or more.

It's the price we're paying for unprecedented success, I suppose. I'm personally throwing all expectations out the window at this point.

3. Perhaps, one of the more interesting things to come to mind is that it really feels like people are bursting at the seams to air the dirty laundry inside Foxboro. It's a sign that BB has truly lost his iron grip on that building. We are not even done with the season (officially) and postmortems are coming out, the likes of which we haven't seen since Brady's departure. I would argue these reports exceed the level of candor in the wake of that craziness.

We are likely going to see more and more coming out, especially if BB is gone as HC of the NEP. If nothing else, it'll be fascinating and a little sad to watch. I'm going to rewatch the 2014 playoffs and SB49 this year on Sundays to wash the bad taste out of my mouth. I'm officially becoming one of those guys who lives in the past.

 

[condon84]

Kraft doesn't strike me as a meddler unless it is absolutely necessary and to me at least, ending the Patricia experiment was absolutely necessary. Bill basically made a mockery of the offense last year and I am sure the letter Kraft sent was a direct reaction to how things went with Patrica and Judge as offensive coaches. My biggest issue is Bill not realizing it wasn't working on his own.

Every owner who has meddled felt it was absolutely necessary.

They were competing for a playoff spot last year in December. They were in the playoffs the year before.

Patricia was a brand new OC. Growing pains should have been expected. Continuity should have been prioritized.

What made last year look even more horrible was Mac throwing tantrums on the field and his ****ty play. The team was 2-0 when Zappe started and the offense looked competent. This year Mac is still ****ty with a new OC, Zappe at least has shown some competency, albeit inconsistently.

Kraft stepping in was absolutely unneccessary. He got spoiled with the Brady run and felt entitled to winning playoff games year in year out. That's just not the way it works in the NFL. What we had with Brady was an anomaly.

If Kraft stepped in and forced his decision on a 6x SB winning HC, you think he's not gonna meddle with the new guy who don't have the same resume as Bill? Come on.

This situation feels unsalvageable and Kraft is probably going to force BB out. He will be known as the owner who let the GOAT QB leave, and forced the GOAT HC out.

Well ****ing done.

 

[upstater1]

Why couldn't they have traded up to get a tackle? Didn't they trade down to F with the Jets? Instead of playing cute games in the draft, they should be going after players aggressively at positions of dire need.

We'll revisit this in 3 years to see where Broderick Jones is versus Gonzalez.

 

[VrabelJr]

Dawand Jones started 9 games and by all accounts seemed to get better as the season progressed until an injury. Andrews has played 1% of the offensive snaps and backs up really the only entrenched starter on the offensive line. What exactly makes Andrews a "fine" pick in your estimation?

Because **** can happen at positions other than just Tackle and we had already signed Reiff and Anderson at that point. Roster management is risk management.

 

[upstater1]

It's funny. I think one of the greatest strengths of the Pats' in the early dynasty was its coaching staff. You had talent up and down the coaching staff. Romeo. Weis. Scar. Fears. McDaniels. Brad Seely. Daboll. You had position coaches who were among the best in the league at their jobs.

Now the coaching staff seems to be mostly Belichick's cronies and family. I will give Steve Belichick credit. He seems like the real deal. But what about the rest of them?

Well, these were Belichick cronies except for Scar and Seely. McDaniels and Daboll were just young 20 somethings. But Romeo, Weis, and Fears had been with him a long time.

Don't forget we had Pepper Johnson, who was similar to Troy Brown in the sense he was an ex player close to Belichick, but not really trusted.