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

[Kdo5]

Seems like a one sided report from “inside sources” who want Bill gone.
2 sides to every story.
If it is accurate, agree Bill should be gone.

Doubt Pats will get a big name coach to replace Bill.
Next year could be ad bad as this one.
If Bill goes, this team is back to a complete and total rebuild.

I think we’ve gotta separate ourselves out of this whole “media is out to get us!” persecution complex.

What Kyed and Callaghan reported does not diverge one bit from what we’ve gathered from other reports and that which we’ve seen with our own eyes. There is obviously crippling problems with personnel and coaching and this article did an excellent job of digging further into it.

 

[Kdo5]

Do we really need an article to explain that Tom Brady is what made this team great, and losing him led to their downfall?

Yes. No one is asking for the team to be in the Super Bowl or even a conference title game. But competency from the organization should be expected.

The downfall to the bottom of the barrel is a worthwhile story.

 

[203Pat]

I think we’ve gotta separate ourselves out of this whole “media is out to get us!” persecution complex.

What Kyed and Callaghan reported does not diverge one bit from what we’ve gathered from other reports and that which we’ve seen with our own eyes. There is obviously crippling problems with personnel and coaching and this article did an excellent job of digging further into it.

The blind homerism is just embarrassing. They're reporters that reported on what they were told. If the situation within the organization wasn't such a disaster there'd be nothing to report on. The "Boo hoo they're out to get us!" crap is either just delusion or denial.

 

[sb1]

You're right. Without Brady he's below average.

Without Brady he would be a 2 time failed HC. Maybe still DC somewhere and probably a really good one.

 

[Steve102]

Yes. No one is asking for the team to be in the Super Bowl or even a conference title game. But competency from the organization should be expected.

The downfall to the bottom of the barrel is a worthwhile story.

Certainly there's going to be a very long list of media types who have an axe to grind with Bill for him being difficult. There will be those who maintain objectivity and will talk about his HoF career once they part ways. There will also be puff pieces by folks in Kraft's pocket. There's certainly going to be bigtime hit pieces from the Globe, being owned by John Henry, which will be like sharks with blood in the water.

To you point, the downfall is a noteworthy story. Whether or not there's a piling on remains to be seen.

 

[Nikolai]

I'm not demanding yearly Super Bowl contention. I could die happy as a fan with six ****ing awesome Super Bowl runs, but I'd appreciate a degree of competency occasionally bordering on contention. It's all I ask. If we get more, I'm on board and ready to go. If 8-10 wins with an early-mid round exit in the playoffs is the new norm which we occasionally exceed...I can live with that.

Certainly there's going to be a very long list of media types who have an axe to grind with Bill for him being difficult. There will be those who maintain objectivity and will talk about his HoF career once they part ways. There will also be puff pieces by folks in Kraft's pocket. There's certainly going to be bigtime hit pieces from the Globe, being owned by John Henry, which will be like sharks with blood in the water.

To you point, the downfall is a noteworthy story. Whether or not there's a piling on remains to be seen.

Came here to say exactly this. 100% agreed.

 

[venecol]

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.

Are you Steve or Brian?

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Another thing I noticed was that there were many players drafted as tackles who became solid starters at guard. Maybe there shoul be a bit more consideration to that idea; it worked out well with Logan Mankins.

As I have noted on this board before (though not recently), that was the Patriots' MO under Belichick prior to Shaq Mason. They basically didn't draft players who played guard in college at all, unless they also played center.

 

[Steve102]

I'm not demanding yearly Super Bowl contention. I could die happy as a fan with six ****ing awesome Super Bowl runs, but I'd appreciate a degree of competency occasionally bordering on contention. It's all I ask. If we get more, I'm on board and ready to go. If 8-10 wins with an early-mid round exit in the playoffs is the new norm which we occasionally exceed...I can live with that.



Came here to say exactly this. 100% agreed.

I'm with you on the contention point. Just be good. Be Pittsburgh. Be San Francisco. Even be Baltimore. I was going to say be Dallas, but eff Jerry Jones and eff the Cowboys.

 

[SlowGettingUp]

I don't think anything in this article sounds unbelievable. But you always have to look at the motivation of the leakers and take that into account.

The OL debacle had three legs - bottom of the barrel players, comparatively inexperienced coaches combined with Klemm's illness, and multiple injuries to the tackles and the rest of the line. The OL play absolutely played a part in Mac's implosion this year and also hamstrung what BoB could do.

Who knows about the receiver coaching - that could easily be someone trying to lay the blame on others.

For me, not paying Hopkins was the most puzzling decision of the year. We have oodles of cap space over the next 3 years. We can't know if that was a Kraft or a Belichick call.

 

[SVN]

What does this mean?

Who couldn't confirm it? Confirmation from O'Brien? It's enough to have confirmation from multiple sources. That's how journalism works.

If you don't have that, then why did you continue to speculate?

It's a bizarre sentence to throw into the middle of all of this.

You talked to over a dozen sources working for the Patriots, but not more than one of them said that O'Brien wanted to hire his own guys?

And you speculated on it anyway?

When the article starts with the sentence that eveyrone spoke in condition of anonymity for fear of retribution its hard to believe how much of it was confirmed.

 

[SVN]

Comments:

1.) Other than the @Dallas, NO, @Mia, and the KC losses...all of our games were decided by an one score or less margin. 4-8....and the @Mia & KC games were more competitive than the final score margins of 14 and 10 respectively.

2.) By every statistical measure, Patricia's offense was better than BOB's. The only differences being Meyers out for JuJu,
OL injuries/inconsistency early in the year before Onwenu moved outside, addition of Geisicki, re-emergence of Bourne before he was lost for the season, Rham being lost for the last 5 weeks, addition of EE, and a few other tweaks I am forgetting.

3.) If we had played Zappe all year...I think we win the @Raiders game, lose the Bills game, win the Commanders game, win the Colts/Germany game, win the @ Giants game, and beat the Chargers (because Zappe would have had enough reps by then by starting all games)...probably be 8-8 right now with us likely winning on Sunday to finish 9-8 again. My main point being that with a conservative offense...we would still be mathematically alive for the playoffs in week 18.

4.) Trent Brown "checked out" on us in the past and found greener pastures in FA until he underplayed his contract. It is why we were able to resign him a 2nd time.

5.) BB did allow BOB to hire one guy at least? BB has always had the smallest coaching staff in the league...never more than 10 guys.

6.) Coaches coach....players play. Does anyone think that Tom Brady could have coached up Mac Jones? Lay off my main man, Troy Brown!!!

7.) Like Bill Cowher used to say, "There is a FINE line between winning and losing in the NFL". Give the Patriots 2-3 more elite players and things will turn around instantly, IMO.

BOB hiring was a Kraft hiring. it was clear from allthe press releases and about mayo coming etc that krafts were getting involved. Thats why i dont belive BB wont be able to work with a GM krafts bring because they are already getting involved.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

The OL debacle had three legs - bottom of the barrel players, comparatively inexperienced coaches combined with Klemm's illness, and multiple injuries to the tackles and the rest of the line. The OL play absolutely played a part in Mac's implosion this year and also hamstrung what BoB could do.

The sad thing on the coaching is the Patriots had Scar mentor not one but two people, and then lost one to the NFL's COVID policies [let's not beat that horse again; it was what it was at the time] and the other to Joshie running off to Vegas.

 

[vicspats]

The issue isn’t his coaching. It’s his drafting and picking his staff that are the issue.

So much involved in the second sentence.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Klemm's illness: he's sick of Belichick. No help on offensive line, no true coaching, reverting to old ways because that's what they know as opposed to trying to adapt. Without any consistency on the OL, nothing else matters.

To be fair, though, can you really argue that Scar's methods don't work? I mean, in 2011, they had Nick McDonald, their fourth-string center starting, and they barely missed a beat.

 

[Water Boy]

Patricia blew it there. Had he shown an ounce of humility and maybe brought the players together and included them more in the process as they built the offense, that might have actually worked out better. Instead, he gave them the "let me worry about that" response when they questioned him about potential scenarios and ended up alienating them, setting up a really bad situation when they started encountering adversity. He has no one to blame but himself for that one.

The Eagle's defense sucks with Patricia's input.

 

[Steve102]

To be fair, though, can you really argue that Scar's methods don't work? I mean, in 2011, they had Nick McDonald, their fourth-string center starting, and they barely missed a beat.

No, I don't think you can argue them. I think no one can coach Scar's method but Scar.

 

[Water Boy]

To be fair, though, can you really argue that Scar's methods don't work? I mean, in 2011, they had Nick McDonald, their fourth-string center starting, and they barely missed a beat.

Scar wrote the book on how to teach offensive line play.

 

[vicspats]

I’m gonna laugh my ass off if Monday afternoon comes around and Patriots announce they signed Bill to another 2 year contract extension… can already hear some chuckle heads exploding hahaha…

 

[ctpatsfan77]

It was a need created by giving Shaq Mason money instead of Joe Thuney. That decision lead to a roller coaster of draft picks expended finding a replacement.

It's quite a bit more complex than that. Mason is younger than Thuney, despite being drafted a year earlier, and even the other OL would admit he was the most athletic among them. I can't fault them for giving him that money. [Plus Thuney wasn't eligible for an extension that season anyways.]

The thing is that they could have matched the contract Thuney got from KC, but, for whatever reason, they didn't. I think that they figured Ted Karras could adequately replace him, and they were more or less correct.

But then, for whatever reason, they lowballed Karras in FA, and that led to him going to the Browns and creating the need at LG.