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(PHOTO: Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY Sports) Following the 2022 season, the Boston Herald provided some terrific insight as it pertained to the problems going on inside the walls of Gillette Stadium after New England’s 8-9 finish.
With the Patriots currently sitting at 4-12 heading into this weekend, the Herald didn’t wait until after the season to provide a window into what’s gone on so far in 2023.
Reporters Doug Kyed and Andrew Callahan released a story on Thursday that paints a fascinating picture of what’s transpired this season behind closed doors, with frustration seemingly going on with the lack of coaching staff structure, irritation with the front office, and other issues that seemingly set this year’s group up to fail heading into what could be Bill Belichick’s final season as head coach of the New England Patriots.
Here’s a quick rundown with some thoughts on various things that Kyed and Callahan brought to light:
One of the biggest topics of discussion heading into last offseason was the frustration with Mac Jones’ step backward coming off what had been a promising rookie season, with Jones struggling for much of last year following his 10-6 performance in 2021.
Obviously, one of the biggest changes ahead of last season was the departure of Josh McDaniels, who clearly played a large role in Jones’ development. The former Alabama quarterback got off to a solid start during his first year in the NFL, finishing 352-of-521 (67.6%) for 3801 yards along with 22 touchdowns and just 13 interceptions, while leading the club back to its first playoff appearance since 2019.
With McDaniels gone, along with the fact he took a variety of offensive coaches with him, Belichick opted to turn to Matt Patricia to handle the offense, with Joe Judge joining him to help as the quarterbacks coach ahead of the 2022 season.
We all know how well that worked out. Jones took a massive step backwards and there was clear friction between Patricia and Jones, along with other offensive players who weren’t confident in what Patricia was running. Some of that boiled over late in the season on game day, with the public outbursts by Jones during games against Arizona and Buffalo that didn’t sit well, and other situations that further made that experiment a disaster.
Still, heading into this past offseason, it sounds like Belichick wasn’t willing to move away from it. According to the Herald, rather than hire Bill O’Brien, Belichick reportedly “preferred to keep Patricia and grow together.”
That ultimately didn’t happen, and O’Brien joined the staff. It certainly sounds like Robert Kraft likely played a role in that, with his hiring among a couple of moves the owner was very public about after they came to fruition.
From an outsider’s perspective, and based on the report last year, it sounds like Patricia was the one who may have damaged any chance he had of things working out.
One of the biggest frustrations that came out after last season was that the former coach wasn’t happy with some of the questions when it came to players inquiring on his plans preparing for various potential scenarios, which Patricia essentially told them they’d deal with them as they happened.
It sounds like had Patricia shown an ounce of humility and even brought guys into the process as they revamped the offense and made the players feel like they had input, it could have possibly worked. Instead, it feels like he alienated them, and it put Patricia at odds with guys like Jones and former receiver Jakobi Meyers, who was among several players who were vocal last season.
As a result, Patricia didn’t survive the offseason and he made a quiet exit from Foxboro during the spring, and he’s gone back to coaching defense with the Eagles.
(PHOTO: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports)
The Herald also reported that O’Brien apparently wasn’t happy this year with some of the team’s offensive coaching staff.
The newspaper revealed that it’s unknown how much input O’Brien had or if he asked to make any changes, although they cited some assistants who believe he would have liked to. Belichick allowed one hire, which was tight ends coach Will Lawing, who worked with O’Brien in Alabama and during his time in Houston. Lawing replaced Nick Caley, who went to the Rams after last season.
Caley, who is now the tight ends coach in Los Angeles, was reportedly among the candidates for offensive coordinator in New England prior to O’Brien’s hire.
After seeing the way things played out this season, it sounds like O’Brien wasn’t pleased with the wide receivers or offensive line coaches, although it’s not known to what level that falls. But the staff is small and it’s not hard to figure out who would fall into each of those categories. Newly hired Adrian Klemm was the offensive line coach, while Ross Douglas and Troy Brown are in charge of the receivers.
The Herald cited members of the front office who shared O’Brien’s frustration. “It’s just a lot of bad s—,” a team source told them. “Bad coaching.”
One interesting note was the fact that Adrian Klemm’s leave of absence for health reasons now has a little bit of context behind it.
The Herald reports that there was apparently a confrontation between Klemm and director of player of personnel Matt Groh early in the year that was apparently heated, centering on the lack of talent up front.
The issues at tackle are certainly well-documented, although the apparent belief was that there weren’t a lot of great options in terms of free agents, with the club also not opting to go in that direction early in the draft.
One source was stunned that the situation wasn’t addressed.
“We didn’t invest in the offensive line until the fourth round, didn’t take a receiver until the sixth,” they told the Herald. “How do we spend the first three picks on defense when tackle was the biggest problem on the team last year?”
(PHOTO: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports)
The blowout loss against the Saints was apparently the game where things took a dramatic turn for Mac Jones.
After that game, the second blowout loss in as many weeks, the coaching staff apparently started to ponder a quarterback change, and his teammates saw a player whose confidence was shot.
One other thing that was mentioned was something Albert Breer had reported previously also, and that Jones was doing some troubling things on the field. The Herald reported that the third-year quarterback was audibling out of plays into new ones, yet not executing the throws to the intended target.
What was interesting was the fact that for all the buzz there was after Bailey Zappe was cut during training camp and the subsequent signing of guys like Matt Corral and Will Grier, it doesn’t sound like the club was overly invested in giving either veteran much of an opportunity. The Herald reported that Grier was “never a serious consideration,” which given how dire things were was surprising.
As for Zappe and Jones, the two reportedly “hardly talk,” with both buried in their own preparation.
Zappe has also still yet to truly win the job, holding it down after the internal consensus appears to be that the second-year QB simply “waited Jones out.”
He’s still yet to put up a big performance against a tough opponent, coming up short against both Kansas City and last week in Buffalo, the latter of which saw him throw three interceptions.
Unfortunately, a win over the Jets is expected and wouldn’t be one that would give him enough momentum to secure it heading into next season. As a result, Zappe will likely be facing some competition next July, the only question will be whether it will be anyone beyond Nathan Rourke who will be out there competing against him.
1) Apparently it was a blowup between Jack Jones and position coach Mike Pellegrino in Germany at halftime that ended his tenure. The Herald reports Jones blew up at Pellegrino over the decision to not start him, which saw him cut the next day. Jones reportedly had missed curfew the previous week, which is where his problems originally started.
2) Trent Brown was obviously a healthy scratch this past weekend, causing him to miss one last shot at earning a portion of his incentives. Brown also told the Herald that plans changed along the offensive line once Klemm departed. The veteran told the newspaper, they reverted back to practicing former offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia’s techniques and drills instead of those Klemm had taught. Veteran lineman James Ferentz also reportedly assisted the coaching staff, which was interesting.
3) There appears to be internal frustration when it comes to Belichick’s handling of building a coaching staff, as well as obviously his front office decisions. It certainly sounds like the final “brain drain” by McDaniels caused a host of issues that brought them to this point, and it could ultimately be his undoing. We obviously know about the front-office decisions, and it’s still unclear who had the final say on things, despite the “finger pointing” that was mentioned.
4) As for Belichick the coach, this bit certainly said it best: “The guys still respond to him,” a tenured Patriots source told the newspaper. “And goddamn, we have so many squad meetings where he shows them what’s going to happen in the game, and it always f–ing happens. Even down to what we can’t do, and then we end up f—ing doing it.”
Whether or not we’re in the final days of things is obviously the big question heading into what could be the last time we see him on the sideline this Sunday.
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