Some thoughts ahead of Sunday’s game:
1) Much of the talk this week has centered around the report by Tom Curran of NBC Sports Boston, who revealed this week that apparently the decision to move on from Bill Belichick after this year may have already been made.
According to Curran, that conclusion by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was apparently reached following the club’s loss in Germany, which now has him quietly letting the season finish out before the two potentially part ways.
“When they came out of Germany, conversations I had that week made it very clear a decision was made, and they were going to play out the string, and at the end of the year, there would be a parting of the ways, for a variety of reasons,” said Curran during a segment earlier this week. “I think, and I wasn’t told this specifically, but the main one being, you don’t fire Bill Belichick during the season. It’s just not going to happen. Additionally, though, he’s an asset. He’s under contract for another year which we reported after ESPN or NFL Media reported there was a long-term extension in place that would keep Bill locked up long term. It’s only through next year.”
“So that would not be an impediment to them changing course and it had gone too far. The Germany game, the Commanders game, the Saints game – all huge marquee games – and then there was a Chargers game after that. Just because they won last week in Pittsburgh in prime time, I don’t think it quells anything.”
Phil Perry added that despite a suggestion by co-host Trenni Kusnierek about them potentially winning out, that likely won’t change anything. Perry said the other issues could be a big enough concern that Robert and Jonathan Kraft may feel as though a change is simply necessary as they try and rebuild the team moving forward.
“And even if they win out, [Trenni], to use your example [of potentially winning out], they still end up with seven wins, out of the postseason, trending in the wrong direction,” said Perry. “And it doesn’t erase all of the personnel errors that Tom and I have been talking about for a long time here.”
“So I’m sure the Krafts are looking at that and also looking at this offseason and all the cap space they have, and what looks like it could be a top-three pick in the draft, and it would be fair for them to ask, ‘Is Bill Belichick the right guy to lead us through that offseason into 2024 and beyond?’”
There are a couple of legitimate questions that need to be answered in order to fully make sense of that decision, if this ultimately ends up being the case:
a) Did Belichick attempt to move on from Mac Jones earlier in the season, and did Kraft step in?
This one is hard not to wonder about. At no point during training camp did Belichick really appear to back Jones, often deflecting any question about his status as the team’s starter. That also lingered into the season, so it feels like Jones, even with Bill O’Brien as coordinator, never really got back into a good place with his coach.
Given how things ultimately played out, especially when Jones melted down midseason, it makes you wonder if Belichick wanted to move on from Jones sooner and that Kraft potentially intervened. If that’s the case, it’s hard not to question things, albeit neither Bailey Zappe, Malik Cunnigham, nor Will Grier appeared to do enough during the early part of the season for them to feel confident they had a better option.
b) Who made the personnel decisions this offseason?
One of the more interesting storylines is the fact that Belichick has seemingly tried to separate himself from the personnel side of things at points here in 2023, which makes you wonder whether or not he tried to deflect some of the blame based on some of the questionable moves they made this offseason.
Whether it was the lack of tackle help, their decision to extend DeVante Parker rather than bite the bullet on the money it would have taken to sign DeAndre Hopkins (who is having a solid season in Tennessee), some of the draft decisions, and other moves. Based on some comments, Belichick made it sound like he wasn’t necessarily 100% on board on some of these, which is interesting. The only people in the room who truly know the answer are Belichick, Kraft and Matt Groh, which should the hammer fall, what happens with Groh (if he stays on, or if he’s let go) might end up explaining some of it.
Some of what gets lost here is the fact people can’t seem to separate out Belichick, the GM, from Belichick, the coach. There’s no question that personnel decisions are what have them in the state they’re currently in, but there’s no denying that, the Cowboys and Saints debacles aside, that the game plans remain as solid as ever, at least on defense.
For the most part, execution has been the #1 issue on offense, which eventually led to the quarterback change. How things play out from here will potentially have that decision further second-guessed, especially should the club close out the 2023 season by making a late run despite having nothing to play for other than the role of spoiler.
Belichick was asked about the reports of his future, and to no one’s surprise, he told reporters, “We’re on to Kansas City.”
(PHOTO:Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports
2) Malik Cunningham’s departure on Tuesday came as a surprise, with the Baltimore Ravens signing Cunningham off of New England’s practice squad onto their active roster.
Cunningham is a fellow Louisville alumni with Lamar Jackson, so the pairing certainly appears to make some sense. Belichick did say on Wednesday that the Patriots tried to keep him in the fold, but Baltimore sold him on their offense and the former undrafted rookie ultimately decided to join the Ravens.
“Yeah, but I think they sold him on the opportunity on the offense…he and Lamar,” said Belichick. “Certainly, their offense suits Malik better than any other offense in the league does. So it makes sense, as a quarterback.”
How big of a loss it might be is tough to say. Cunningham had primarily been working as a receiver with limited reps at quarterback, and it’s not like he’s excelled at either during what little time we saw of him.
He was targeted nine times with just one catch in the preseason, along with fishing the exhibition season 3-of-6 for 19 yards passing.
Neither of those two totals obviously leave you with much to get excited about.
To make matters worse, with just four games remaining, Cunningham certainly didn’t appear poised to get a shot under center, especially given the upward trajectory Zappe seems to be slowly trending toward at this point.
As a result, he’s on to a place where he may finally get his opportunity. And given Jackson’s injury history, it’s entirely possible it could potentially come sooner than later.
(PHOTO:Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports
3) Heading into Sunday’s game, this is going to be a significant test for Zappe against one of the top teams in the Conference.
While the outcome is meaningless, it’s probably safe to say this one certainly holds some value in Zappe’s eyes. Anytime you can beat someone like Patrick Mahomes, that’s something that would absolutely build some additional confidence for the second-year quarterback.
The Patriots have actually played Kansas City tough in past meetings, and even put together a solid showing in 2020 until Brian Hoyer melted down and forgot the number of timeouts late in the first half, along with some early gaffes in the second half that let the game get out of hand.
Zappe likely won’t let that happen. One of the things he’s been praised for is his calm demeanor where he doesn’t let the stage get too big, and he’ll also have the benefit of playing this one in front of the home crowd.
The biggest question is going to be whether or not he can play a full 60-minutes. He put up 196 yards and three touchdowns last Thursday night in Pittsburgh in the first half, but was shutout the rest of the way and threw for just 44 yards total in the second half along with an interception.
That left New England’s defense to have to pick up the slack and seal the deal, albeit the early lead they put together allowed them the freedom to play the game on their terms.
Against the Chiefs, they’ll need a better effort. Kansas City’s pass rush made things tough on Buffalo, and one area that will be interesting to watch is whether or not the Patriots start rolling Zappe out away from pressure the way they did at times for him last year in his two wins.
Zappe has handled the rush relatively well and moves pretty smoothly outside the pocket, which may help him this week. He doesn’t have the arm that someone like Josh Allen or Mahomes does, but he does a good job of keeping his eyes downfield, and he’s been fairly accurate on intermediate throws when they’ve had to improvise.
As a result, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see some designed plays to get him away from the rush, and we’ll have to see how he handles it.
4) New England’s defense has also had some success against Mahomes in the past, and Belichick has more speed on that side of the ball than they did the last time these two teams met.
The Chiefs aren’t quite as deadly with their current group of offensive skill players, with Travis Kelce clearly one of their most talented players. The challenge, as Belichick pointed out on Wednesday, is going to be to try and keep him contained as Mahomes often hits Kelce when things break down, which presents a challenge to his players in the secondary.
But they’ve done a terrific job of mixing things up and throwing off Mahomes’ timing. That’s an area where if they can force him out of the pocket and persistently frustrate him, as good as he is, it’s going to be tough for him to be successful consistently for 60 minutes. Especially if they can force some turnovers.
That being said, getting on the scoreboard and trying to play from ahead is going to be critical because asking Zappe to win a shootout, especially with this group of offensive skill players, is probably not realistic.
5) One final area that’s going to be interesting is going to be who is out there with Ezekiel Elliott on Sunday. Elliott had a big game in Pittsburgh, rushing 22 times for 68 yards, along with catching 7 passes for 72 yards.
He didn’t get much help from there, with no one else getting a handoff at running back despite the fact the club had both Ty Montgomery and Kevin Harris active last week.
Montgomery ended up being waived after missing a block on a punt last week, while Harris hasn’t seen the field since last season.
Asking Elliott to carry the entire load again this weekend probably isn’t realistic, which will make this one interesting to follow. JaMycal Hasty was inactive last week, so he might be another player to keep an eye on as, regardless of who gets the call, they’ll need to give Elliott a bit of a breather in what should be a tough game.
We’ll see how it all goes on Sunday, but this is a team that doesn’t appear to have thrown in the towel just yet.
While a win won’t carry much significance in terms of extending their season, it’s probably safe to say this would be one that would absolutely improve morale in the Patriots’ locker room.
For a team that’s now playing for pride and, for some players, their own futures, winning would likely be a nice distraction to what’s probably already been a frustrating stretch.
Kickoff for this one is scheduled for 1:00pm ET at Gillette Stadium, having been flexed from the previous Monday night spot a couple of weeks ago.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
