What do you mean, "get a life"? And who cares about 2023? We can concern ourselves with that NEXT year.
The Pats offense is in utter shambles halfway through the season a year after they made the playoffs. They should have emphasized continuity with a promising young quarterback and built on THAT through capable coaches versed in the system. Instead BB scraps the works, institutes a new playbook with new terminology handing it over to two mediocre cronies with no prior experience running an offense. On top of it he saddles "OC" Patricia with coaching an OL that has been the crux of this mess since training camp.
I'm in my 28th year as a season ticket holder, I go to all the games. I am not giving up on this team and never have, but aside from fielding a slightly above-average defense there isn't much to hang your hat on heading into the stretch run. If this offense comes out of the bye hitting on all cylinders then I'll defer to your notion of a plan in progress but I see little reason for optimism.
I see a lot of pricey talent underutilized or going to waste -- Henry, Smith, Bourne, Agholor, etc. -- and if they're not going to give Marcus Jones sufficient snaps on defense, why not use him in the slot? What promising indicators have YOU seen of "building to be a good playoff team in 2023"? Please be specific as I welcome reasons to lighten my mood about this.
See above.
I don't know how to read what I'm seeing, other than the obvious read you're expressing... what is BB smoking. This sentiment doesn't tend to age well, so I'm waiting to see if there's a reason for what we've seen, or whether he's just being a duce, as they say in Italy.
By the way, FWIW, who revamped the offensive playbook with the OZ zone "wrinkle?" Him or Patricia? I don't know this answer but it would be interesting to know... is this BB going back to the lab, however long it takes, or is this him saying "okay it's all you, Matt"? Do we have this answer, definitively? Everybody's on board, so it doesn't matter for the blame game, and I don't play it. I'm just genuinely curious whether we know these things and if so how.
Begin crazy theory/ I've expressed my crazy theory about the Zappe confusion, and at some point I think it will be born out although there is zero proof now... that BB wanted to see more Zappe because at Round 4, the Zappe pick could be a pure Bill pick, whereas at pick no. 15, they made publicly clear that Jones was a concensus pick... he might or might not have been BB's idea. But even if he was, if Zappe was purely "his" hire with everybody saying "yeah sure, it's just a 4," it's certainly within his capacity to go ahead and get a longer look at him. It wouldn't be the main reason, but a bit of a thumb on a scale. /crazy theory
Soooo I am very ready for Mac to be working his butt off to be fire after the bye, as the kids might or might not say. One of you young turds tell me if I said "fire" right there.
But probably like you, I wonder who he'd be working
with, if he's working his butt off. Judge I guess. What are his "quarterback whisperer" credentials? Overseeing the bang-up job Daniel Jones did in 2021, via whoever the position coach is with the Gintz? I mean, I know nothing except that I know nothing.
I do wonder why BB is filling the staff with guys with Patriots rings, "getting the band back together," as it were. I kind of wonder whether he irrationally wants some feeling of safety/familiarity for himself in the wake of the loss of Brady and the Flores weirdness. "Just get me guys who got rings with me and let me do my job." Subconscious coloring of judgment, not conscious reasoning on his part. A little bit of fortress thinking with all the incoming he takes.
There, crazy theories all discharged.
What Jones is doing now -- throwing picks, being indecisive, etc. -- isn't the planned end game. So let's dare to hope the master motivator Bill Belichick has the whole team watch Dodgeball, then calls Mac out front and center and has Judge appear in the rear of the auditorium lugging a sack of wrenches. Or whatever he needs to do to get it all to click. I've thrown my off-brand wack-job thoughts out there, now it's a matter of repitition until he "gets it."
Remember, squeek through until December and then truly go on a rampage, and it makes you the team that peaked at the right time.
So I am loving the D, stipulating the Chicago exception.
I am loving the run game, especially Stevenson, and I see the rest of that stable, including Strong and Other Harris, as potential-filled extra ammunition.
I see us deep at wide-out, which by the way is already proving to be the right move, based on injuries alone.
And I see an O-line that can keep pace with the less fearsome defensive fronts in the league, and undersized and underpowered against the true beasts.
I see Mac being talked down, yours truly included, because he's not a guy who wins the game for you. He's just a guy who, on a good day, doesn't lose it.. So wouldn't it be cool if he
consistently doesn't lose it for us, and that's enough, against the best teams? And I'd hate to win it this way... but wouldn't it be great if he doesn't have to lose it against an Allen-less Buffalo? Sorry but at this point, I'll take it.
Better, wouldn't it be great for Mac (with improvement) + consistency/healing up on D + O-line stability + no backsies in the run game, all flourish in the second half, and we are there and
deserve to be there?
okay, it's easy to envision the other scenario, so I'm trying on purpose to put on the rose colored glasses.
