Patriots Season Mercifully Over, Will It Be The End Of An Era?

FOXBOROUGH – If this is indeed the end of the Bill Belichick Era in Foxborough, it’s possible that Edgar Allan Poe wrote the script.

On a bleak, snowy day in Foxborough, the Patriots looked as bad as they did in the early 1990s. It was three hours of moribund offensive football. As the snow piled up on the Gillette Stadium field, as the minutes and seconds ticked away, Belichick’s reign as the best coach in the NFL today began to fade into the cold, late afternoon air. You could sense that the Grim Reaper visited Belichick as the final two-minute warning came and went. And when it was over, with the New York Jets winning 17-3, Belichick covered his face with his black facemask hat, shook hands with Robert Saleh and Aaron Rodgers, then turned and walked off the field as Patriot head coach for most likely the final time.

It was a death knell, minus a pendulum or a raven. Given the weather and the environment, it befit the mood of the moment.

With Washington losing at home to Dallas 38-10, Washington clinched the second draft position in April, and the Patriots clinched the third position. Washington won the tiebreaker with the Patriots on strength of schedule (.514 to .523). Arizona lost 21-20 to Seattle, but the Patriots win the tiebreaker with the Cardinals on strength of schedule (.523 to .559) which means the Cardinals will draft no higher than fourth.

Washington beat the Patriots on November 5 and then proceeded to lose their last eight games. Head-to-head is not the top tiebreaker in draft positioning as it is in playoff seeding, else the Patriots get the two pick because of their loss to the Commanders. The Patriots can now look ahead as to who they will select with this high pick, the highest since they had the top pick in 1993.

More on this later. Back to the present for just a bit.

Behind Breece Hall’s 178 yards rushing, including a game-sealing 50-yard touchdown run, the Jets held the Patriots to just a field goal and registered their first win over the Patriots since 2015. In these snowy conditions, it was imperative to be able to run the ball, and the Jets did while the Patriots did not. With Trevor Siemian at the helm, the Jets could do no better offensively than what they did. But the Patriots could not do the same, as bad line blocking only allowed Ezekiel Elliott to gain 54 yards on 13 carries. This game more than any other underscored how badly the Patriots failed to cultivate an adequate (at least) NFL calibre offensive line. With no run game, the Patriots were doomed.

So when Belichick and Bob Kraft meet on Monday, this will be one of the first issues to come up. The offense was a bad creation, and it’s not even close. Hall had blockers, Elliott did not. Bailey Zappe had no time to throw, and he had literally no one to throw to. Injuries notwithstanding, this was a badly constructed offense. Bringing back Bill O’Brien to run the offense turned out to be a non-factor. Mac Jones, once hailed as the quarterback of the future, was the emergency third string quarterback in this game.

This will be a major sticking point this week. Belichick constructed this offense, and he will have to answer for it.

Give the Patriot defense credit for playing hard and well all season long, and for none of them ever quitting or publicly complaining. This is magnified by the early season losses of Matthew Judon and top draft pick Christian Gonzalez. The unit played hard and physical all season long, and was victimized only by an offense that could not put points on the board and often times burdened them with keeping the team in most of the games this season. Other than blowout losses to Dallas and New Orleans, the defense gets major props.

So, when Kraft and Belichick meet, one of four things will happen.

Belichick will retire from coaching, or resign his job. Zero percent chance of either of these happening.

Kraft will fire Belichick. Kraft doesn’t want to do this. Aside from the awful PR the firing a Hall of Fame generational head coach will engender (which only Jerry Jones can pull off and survive it), Kraft will want something in return for Belichick. So, he could always…

Trade Belichick. This is also unlikely. Trading him anywhere means that something, probably high draft picks, would have to come back to Foxborough. Belichick will not go to a new team and have that new team send back what will be his new draft capital. This would become a very ticklish situation which may take weeks to pull off if it can be done at all.

Keep Belichick and bring in a new director of football ops (general manager or whatever you want to call the new position). This would be the best solution, but again it is very unlikely. Belichick will not want to cede any authority even if it means for the better of the team. It is very clear that what ails the Patriots is not so much in the game preparation, but rather in administrative/logistical areas. Belichick can still coach. He needs someone to help him with buying the groceries, to paraphrase a former Patriot head coach.

If one of Michael Penix Jr., Marvin Harrison Jr., or Drake Maye are available at the three spot in the draft, who will make the decision to select? Or would the Patriots go left tackle with their pick? Or will they (gulp) trade down? Kraft will have to decide who will make those picks, and if it’s not Belichick, then who?

Whatever the case, the season is over. Awful season, to say the least.

Belichick may not be the only Patriot who will not return next year. Special teams ace Matthew Slater is rumoured to be retiring at year’s end. The team wore sweatshirts in his honor. Slater’s father, Jackie, is in the Hall of Fame and Matthew should join him some day. One of the more beloved Patriots of the last 20 years, Slater was a model of consistency, excellence and being a gentleman. Belichick loves special teams players, and perhaps loved Slater the most.

The Belichick watch is on. It will really be something. This process will be more like a Dame Agatha Christie novel than anything by Poe. Full of mystery, and no one knows the ending.

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About Bob George

Covering Boston Sports since 1997. Native of Worcester, Mass. Attended UMass and Univ of Michigan. Lives in California. Just recently retired after 40 years of public school teaching. Podcasts on YouTube at @thepic4139

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