2023 has seen the Patriots continue to struggle in the years following Tom Brady’s free agent departure in 2020. Offensive shortcomings were foreshadowed in the waning years of the legendary quarterback’s time in New England, but they have dragged the franchise down as the search for a long-term successor is still ongoing. 
That effort saw Mac Jones selected in the first round of the 2021 draft, and his rookie performance offered optimism he could deliver consistent play under center. Since then, however, the Alabama product has not met expectations and his status as the team’s undisputed starter remained in question through this past offseason. Tensions between he and head coach Bill Belichick went public, and 2023 was viewed as a potential make-or-break-year for both parties.
The Patriots’ bizarre setup with respect to guiding the offense last season – which saw Matt Patricia and Joe Judge share duties on a less-than-familiar side of the ball – was done away with this spring. The return of OC Bill O’Brien brought about optimism for a rebound from Jones and the rest of the unit, but New England ranks last in the league in points per game and 28th in total offense. Over the past two weeks, their struggles have manifested in undeniable fashion: a 38-3 loss to the Cowboys, followed by a 34-0 defeat at home against the Saints.
At no point during Robert Kraft’s ownership tenure had the Patriots lost two games by 30 or more points in a season, a feat which has now been seen in consecutive weeks. Jones has not been on the field by the end of either contest, but he has received a vote of confidence as the starting signal-caller moving forward. How long of a leash he receives will be a storyline to follow, but the same will hold true for the play of the pass-catching corps around him.
Belichick and the Patriots do not have a stellar record when it comes to identifying high-end receivers in the draft, something which has been made painfully clear without Brady under center. The occasional free agent spending spree – such as the one which produced lucrative deals for tight ends Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry in 2021 – has not proved to be a useful solution. Mike Gesicki represents the latest investment at the TE spot, albeit on a one-year deal, which has yet to yield notable production.
Whispers about Belichick’s job security started to pick up when Kraft essentially delivered a playoffs-or-bust ultimatum in March. While the latter walked back that sentiment to an extent, it very much remains to be seen if the former will be able to dig New England out of its 1-4 hole. Failure to do so will no doubt lead to plenty of attention aimed at Belichick’s intentions; the 71-year-old is reportedly expected to step aside (voluntarily or otherwise) if the current campaign ends in another lack of postseason success.
Defensive consistency has, to no surprise, been a mainstay for the Patriots across Belichick’s tenure. That unit is in danger of suffering a notable step back in effectiveness this year, however, with both Pro Bowl edge rusher Matt Judon and first-round rookie cornerback Christian Gonzalez expected to miss the rest of the campaign. Their losses will be acutely felt as the team is set to rely on its defense given the inability of the offense to consistently put up points.
Gaining ground in a division which features the Dolphins and Bills will be a daunting task given the advantage those teams have in the standings and the issues which threaten to consign the Patriots to what would be a third year out of the four since Brady left without a playoff appearance (the lone exception coming in 2021 which included a 30-point loss in the wild-card round). While that era has seen a continuation of the organization’s brain drain on the sidelines and in the front office, the current situation has led to renewed calls for a large-scale reset.
What do you make of the Patriots’ 2023 performances and the overall trends they underscore? Should Jones and/or Belichick remain in place as the key determinants in future success (or perhaps a lack thereof)? Or would the organization be better suited to move in a fundamentally different direction and begin a new era? Have your say in the comments section below.
Oh boy, I know arty’s got this answer primed. My friend, let her rip!
I’ve already gone on record saying Bill has overachieved without a viable QB since Tom left.
Mac was always just a lotto ticket , and not signing any sort of starting experience QB has lead them to, a perhaps planned, tank for a QB year.
Bill, probably smartly, never showed any interest in Rodgers or Russell Wilson.
But not only that, passed on viable options like Andy Dalton and Baker Mayfield, both whom I think would fare well for Belicheks Pats.
But I think Bill has decided he wants more than that, so is rolling with the XFL talent level QB combo Mac and Zappe.
With the hopes of landing Drake Maye or Shadeur in the draft.
Overall I think it’s incredible what Bills been able to do with Mac and a washed up Cam Newton.
Any GM has their issues , Bill can’t draft WRs. But his defense is always consistently top third.
Like I said, I think Andy Dalton makes this a playoff team. Bill still runs a great system.
But gotta go for Drake Maye and get in ring contention.
Bill knows it.
Wow! The definition of “incredible” has really taken a hit in recent times.
Bill cannot accurately rate QB talent. If he knew Tampa Tom was so great, he wouldn’t have waited until the 6th round to take him.
Why did he not draft Purdy as well?
oh cmon..
ZERO .. ZERO GMs thought Brock Purdy was going to be good .
…not even the team that drafted him.
what a dumb talking point, to criticize Bill for Purdy.
factually, the Pats haven’t been in position to take a top QB in any draft because of what Bill’s done with his team and winning culture.
Everyone glorifies Bill for drafting Tom in the 6th right? Such a genius move. Why can’t I criticize him for whiffing on Purdy?
Purdy is currently #1 in passer rating so you might not be getting those Taco dinners you were counting on arty…lol
Had lunch with that friend today. He was rubbing it in my face, rightfully so!
Bill can’t draft period. He hasn’t re-upped 1 first round pick in a decade. That’s embarrassing. He can’t evaluate FA’s as well. Those are the 2 mechanisms to build your roster & the Pats roster is well below par. And has been for years. That’s a major reason Tom walked.
Jimmy Garoppolo started in the league as a Patriot as well. Belichick’s drafting has gotten worse.
Stick to DBZ lol
Thank you my friend.
‘Since then, however, the Alabama product has not met expectations and his status as the team’s undisputed starter remained in question through this past offseason.’
Every single sports writer and commentator say the same thing about NE. Pats have no weapons and a terrible O line. How is that Mac’s fault? Place blame where it’s deserved, on Bill.
I still have never received an answer to this question. ‘Tom left NE because Tampa was loaded.’. That’s what everyone says, right? Well if Bill is so great at everything, why was his roster (far) worse than Tampa’s?
Like I have said, I hope Bill continues coaching at least 1 more season so it’s full decade of failure non his resume.
I started to lose my belief in him when 2 HoF’ers walked away, Gronk & Tom. That says something about how much Bill is despised by his players. There’s not a bigger statement than that about Bill in my opinion.
because you can only be ‘loaded’ during specific windows before dead cap and aging vets catches up with you.
Arty is one of my favs too.
If a Chernobyl and Nagasaki/Hiroshima had a baby, it would be the New England patriots after the brady era.
Not sure how you can blame Belichick or the coaching staff for the kind of mistakes that Mac Jones has been making this year. Throwing into triple coverage or throwing late across the field are mistakes that someone with his experience shouldn’t be making… Maybe he and Russell Wilson went to the same off-season camp.
U can blame BB easy he’s the one who gave him no OL help and a bunch of 3-4 wr Mac’s not great but this is on both of them sorry all 3 of the dont let Kraft off the hook for this garbage either
You can’t blame him for Mac’s mistakes while in play… But it does show the type of coach he is. Just like you’re unwilling to let him take the fall for Mac’s terrible play , you can’t give him credit for Tom’s success either. I can’t think of 1 QB that’s really been successful under Bill that’s not named Tom Brady.
Well, in Bill’s defense, there are a couple there. He made Matt Cassel look like a legitimate starter for a season, when he very clearly was later seen to have not been. Kosar played well under him in 1991 and 1992 before ruffling his feathers (cutting him in 1993 was a prideful move, though he ended up making the playoffs the next year), and Garrappolo and Brissett both played well in their limited relief duties under a Belichick. Drew Bledsoe only played a season as a starter with Belichick, and the team was bad, but he was okay by his standards. Bledsoe was a good QB, but not a great QB, so counting his 2000 season as a “good” one is a toss up, I think.
So there has been a couple of other QBs who have had success under Belichick, though obviously
Ak thanks, but you’re showing that he’s had guys with talent, but couldn’t have much success with… Common denominator. Those QBs have all been decent but Bill hasn’t done anything with them at the helm…
I’ll add that Rex Ryan got to a conference championship game with Rex Ryan.
So, using Cassel’s season as a Billy B defense seems flat. Especially since Cassel had a season or two of pretty much decent – maybe good- football in KC.
He had no idea what he had in Brady, and save Bledsoe’s injury (immediately after getting 100 million from the team), Bill’s career is DRASTICALLY different.
I hate Bill. I think he is wildly overrated, but Im fair.
He does know how to coach defense. There are even many things he does well in getting his players ready for Sunday. He has high standards.
But he is a cheater, can’t draft or manage talent.
He will be remembered as a great, but a closer inspection would reveal to anyone who is objective that he gets far too much credit.
He went to the playoffs with two QBs not named Brady…I’m not arguing this point extra hard, but it exists. As to Cassel…no, he was pretty bad. Average at best. But that’s not really the discussion we’re having. My only point here was that there were quarterbacks that won games with Belichick. I’m not going to argue the particulars. Factually speaking, there are quarterbacks that Belichick has a winning record with when they played for him. I’m not arguing that Belichick “built” any quarterbacks-Cassel is really the only argument to be made there, and I wouldn’t make that argument myself anyway. If anything, the Patriots covered Cassel’s inadequacies more than they did develop his talents.Again, the question was “have any other quarterbacks had success with Belichick?” and the answer is yes.
Thank you for pointing out that Rex Ryan got to a conference championship with Rex Ryan. Not sure what has to do with anything, though.
Coaches have had limited success with less QBs.
In Rexs case – he had already been sandbagged with being Rex (I wouldnt wish that on anyone)…
But he also did so with – Mark Sanchez.
You can blame Bill the GM for years of miserable drafts and, more recently, poor assistant coaching debacles brought on, no doubt, by his extra large ego. He got caught up in all the press accolades and thought he could walk on water, but would have been better off remembering the Cleveland years and bringing in a real GM.
They need a better GM, but not a better coach. If Bill swallows his pride they are best off.
You do raise a valid point. We all know the struggles of Patriots staffers away from New England (Jon Robinson not withstanding), but the organization has lost a lot of front office contributors from their heyday. Cheating discussions aside, the indisputable fact is that a lot of contributors from over the years have left (mostly to underperform in new stops elsewhere). Ernie Adams is, as I’ve said before, the most significant departure in my opinion. Adams was the most responsible person individually for the Patriots’ old ability to find players who succeeded at very specific roles and plugging them into their game plans that were built for specific opponents.
Belichick always got the lions’ share of the credit, and he deserved a good portion of it of the gameplanning part, but I think that the last few drafts since Adams’ departure, combined with other front office departures, have proven that Belichick cannot handle that side of football nearly as well as he thinks that he can. Perhaps he can re-learn his techniques to fit the modern NFL, but I wouldn’t take that chance. Kraft has been spoiled by years of success, but so has Bill to a large degree. I think that you’re right-if Bill can accept it, he needs someone to handle Patriots’ player management, he’ll have a much better chance of salvaging his legacy. Let’s not forget-these issues started in Brady’s final years. They didn’t appear suddenly, and Brady obviously felt the same way.
I can’t deny the success that Belichick had in the majority of the Pats’ run, but the roster has had issues in the last five or six years. Having a legend at QB definitely covers a lot of it, but Belichick has taken a step back himself. He can still coach, but the management decisions have taken a toll on the team. Can he accept that? Will Kraft even give him a chance with someone else to take up those responsibilities if he does? We’ll see, but it doesn’t look that way at the current moment.
How’s your day job going?
Ummm…opinions differ.
reply hazy
I trust Belichick with full control of any defense. But the man has absolutely no clue what he is doing offensively from roster building to coaching. It’s year 4 without Brady and they are insanely feeble. Forget being scared, nobody even respects them offensively. His legacy gets worse and worse every season without success since Brady
I agree. He could easily be a HoF DC. From the Giants days to NE; his D’s always balled out. I don’t recall his Browns’ D. but I would bet they were solid as well.
Wow, lotta giant balls and solid brown D in that comment
BB’s D coordinator in Cleveland was Nick Saban.
I don’t remember that! Great memory. Saban is w/o question the GOAT in NCAAF.
He’s still a hof head coach.
Multiple rings. Playoffs wins. Regular season wins.
Only difference is post Brady it’s gone from THE greatest coach ever to ONE OF the greatest ever. Possibly 5-10 somewhere down the list.
Brady walked into a golden situation in Tampa. Does he carry Raiders or any other teams to a superbowl? Probably not.
Brady needed Bill. Bill needed Brady. It was a perfect storm of hc and qb.
I agree with that, NoSubscriptions.
If they get blown out this weekend it’s time to start shipping people starting with BB’s kids and Mac and at the end of the yr anyone and everyone left
crazy prediction:
Belicheck “retires” (but actually fired) on Monday.
Your crazy if you think he’d step down mid-season and Kraft would be even crazier to fire him that way. However, that’s a likely scenario for late January.
@Sherm My crystal ball shows me Monday. But I didn’t write what Monday . . .
January 8th would be a fair prediction, though they could give him a week to clean out his office first.
It’s actually comical to hear people calling BB a bum because he’s having problems replacing a HOF caliber QB. Do they think other coaches didn’t miss a beat when they had to replace QBs like Unitas, Montana, Aikman, Manning, Roethlisberger etc.
Cowher, Gibbs, Parcells, & Shula are already in the Hall going through multiple QB’s.
Reid, and McVay have won w/ multiple QB’s starting for them. Andy will join them in Canton & if Sean continues to coach for years, he will as well. I think Sean will retire early & go into broadcasting though.
Other modern coaches that continually win with different QB’s that may or may not enter Canton would be John Harbaugh, P Carroll– everyone thought the ‘Hawks were tanking last year w/ Geno at the helm. Then he won come back player of the year while leading them to the playoffs. Add K Shanahan (and his father as well). It’s called coaching. Build a roster to allow your QB to be successful.
I think Pitt whiffed on Pickett, but Tomlin wins by D & special teams w/ some plays from their O. Just like last week against Baltimore.
Cowher, Shula, Parcells, and Gibbs also combine for a very respectable 7 Super Bowl rings, which is only more than Belichick. So there is that to consider. 19 years of a starter is a bit harder to move on from than the few years that most of those others (I assume that you’re referring to Simms, Theisman, and Marino in particular?)
I think that Gibbs is a great example for your argument. Gibbs proved that he really didn’t need a great QB to win championships, though he had a lot of success with some good ones. Rypien and Wilson were both good for a year or two though, not really for an extended period of time. Theisman, as great as he was, doesn’t really compare to top QBs of all time. However, I consider this element part of Gibbs’ greatness-he succeeded for a very long time, despite having a lot of moving pieces on his roster at several positions. Of course, that was a different NFL-the league has purposefully engineered the game under Goodell to make the quarterback the only critically important position. I don’t think that the current rules would allow Gibbs’ genius to shine through. After all, he’s the only coach on this list to win Superbowls with multiple starting QBs.
I’m not sure who it was that Cowher moved on from, though. Kordell Stewart? I don’t know if I’d consider him a legend. Shula’s greats were also short lived as players, outside of Marino, whom he arguably held back from winning a championship (I don’t think that Shula is a bad coach by any stretch of the imagination, don’t misunderstand).
I don’t know if we can completely pit Parcells against Belichick, though, considering that Belichick was Parcells’ throughout most of his own non-HC career. I mean, Belichick shares both of Parcells’ two Super Bowl wins. And Parcells also won both of his Superbowls with Simms (and Hostetler!) in his career. It’s not like Belichick has had ZERO success (even though we seem to treat it that way). It just has been a lot of awful in the interim recently, and a lot of it is because of self-sabotaging decision making. Coaches who have won Superbowls with multiple QBs is a pretty short list.
Valid counter. Gibbs clearly won 3 SB’s w/ non HoF QB’s. It was his style of football coaching why I love the game. Solid D that can get after the QB. Shut down CB in Green. On O, beast of a running game, a QB who could ‘manage’ the game (hate that term, winners win. Theisman took 2 teams to the SB and he has never been considered for Canton) but were usually mistake free and took shots down the field.
I don’t remember all of Bill C’s QB’s. But his only HoF QB was Ben. He was constantly competing & winning throughout the 90’s though. He is, rightfully so, in Canton.
Shula’s undefeated season took his starting QB, B Griese, out in week 5. And won it all with Earl Morrall. That’s coaching. Neither QB is in Canton.
Bill P kept winning in NE, Dallas, and back in NY w/ the Jets. Plenty of division titles in those years w/a SB loss while in NE. Bill had a very similar philosophy that Gibbs had. Great defense, solid mistake free offenses. Bill also has 2 rings w/o HoF QB’s, and Bledsoe isn’t getting either, for his lone SB loss. I loved the Skins-Giants games growing up. Throw in 9’ers and Bears. The 80’s was a great decade for the NFC.
May as well add Jimmy Johnson. Dallas was an absolute putrid franchise when he came. Unlike Bill, Jimmy knew how to evaluate college talent, work trades and built a juggernaught only to be undermined by Jerry. If Jerry would have not mingled, Jimmy would have more rings for Jerry. That was a dynasty. I say that as a former Redskins’ fan.
You’re free to defend Bill B, but between 7 sub 500 seasons w/o Tom. vs 3 winning seasons? That’s a fact. Won 11 in NE when Tom was hurt (MCL/ACL), playoff team 2(?) years ago & one playoff team in Cleveland; plus 3(?) cheating scandals, he’s not even a top 5 coach in my opinion.
And to run off in their prime HoF QB/TE duo who owned the league is awful. That’s pee poor management.
I respect the argument, but I will say that our standard for Belichick seems rather higher than others. We say that coaches like Parcells won wherever they went, but when we say that, we mean regular season and making playoffs, not winning Superbowls. I mean, all due respect to Cowher, but he has only one. But for Belichick, winning anything other than a Super Bowl doesn’t count. It just seems like a double standard.
Trust me, if you told me five years ago that I’d be defending Belichick’s contributions, I’d be more surprised than you. I actually agree with Bills1 above that he is (or at least, was) a cheater, and that he and the team got off very easily after Goodell destroyed those tapes. But I can’t say that the current struggles of Belichick give an accurate picture of what he was for the majority of the Patriots’ run. I don’t understand why it is so important to make it a Brady vs. Belichick polarization, when it’s clear that each of them contributed significantly to what ended up occurring.
Either way, hats off to Joe Gibbs. He made it easy to grade his legacy. And Chuck Noll, same to be said there.
Montana to Young, Aikman to Romo, Manning to Luck, Favre to Rodgers. A good evaluator of QB talent has value.
Add Romo to Dak as well. Dak may not win the SB, but has a record of 64-38 as a starter in his career.
Especially considering that Dak was a third round pick whose fit in a pro style system was considered tenuous at best.
(I can hear the comments saying that it’s still tenuous, but the guy has led or has been at the top of the league in offense several times, so you have to give him credit as a third round pick)
Especially when the coach is the defacto GM. He dug his own grave.
I guess it’s easy to win when a HOF QB and a bunch of semi- number one receivers (Edelman,Gronkowsi, Amendola, etc etc) are dropped in your lap, but not when you have to actively seek them out yourself. If Bill wants to maintain his status as a HOF coach and all around wizard of anything football he needs to resign and/or retire at the end of the season. Staying at NE is just going to tarnish his shine as the best of the best. Maybe the game has just passed him by.
Well, Belichick DID seek them out. Gronk was not a known commodity when he was picked in the mid second round in 2010 out of Arizona-at least, not to the level that he became. Otherwise, Jermaine Gresham (a pretty good TE, for his part) wouldn’t have been the first TE off the board. Edelman was a quarterback. Amendola was a disappointment and considered unreliable by the Rams. Welker was unwanted by the Dolphins. Woodhead was a Division II player. His highest profile receiver, Randy Moss, definitely took an effort to go and acquire. So yes, Belichick at one point in time DID excel at player acquisition, even at the receiving spots.
Thing is, as I said earlier, he also had executives like Scott Pioli, Nick Caserio, and Ernie Adams to help find those players. Now? Well, I’m not sure that he has much of anything, judging by his results. And I would say that that is mostly his fault for not finding new replacements and thinking that he can do all of those jobs himself. There are players, like Dugger, where you assume that Belichick’s defensive prowess made the pick, but the high profile misses seem much more normal today than the successes. Belichick has always had final say over the roster, but the front office is much, much thinner now than it was for the entirety of the 2000s and most of the 2010s. This obviously shows on the field.
The man is also 71 years old. He probably should have retired at the end of last season, if he didn’t feel like rebuilding his coaching staff and his front office (as one gets older one gets tired of rebuilding personnel and starting new relationships with a limited timespan).
It’s difficult to evaluate BB because of multiple factors:
– He’s worn two hats for a long time and it’s difficult to separate BB the GM and BB the Coach.
– Having the GOAT in TB would make any coach look good.
– BB’s modus operandi for running the team (ruthless adherence to his cap strategy and everyone is expendable) only works if there’s total buy-in from the QB and other team leaders. This seems to have fallen apart without TB.
– His various cheating scandals are a definite taint.
– The brain drain on the organization over the years from other team’s poaching efforts has created an additional challenge for the team.
– BB is a defensive coach and the offense has been run by other leaders. So, how much credit or blame should BB the Coach get for the O’s performance? And, BB the GM should get knocked hard here.
My take:
– He’s a HOF defensive coach, maybe the GOAT (all due respect to Buddy Ryan and others).
– He’s a very good head coach with some serious deficiencies that are being exposed without TB. He definately isn’t the GOAT as a head coach but he’s very good. His cheating scandals knock him down a peg too.
– He’s a middling GM who should have been replaced about ten years ago. He’s way past his prime and is no longer looked on as a talent evaluation wizard (which he probably never was).
I think this is a good perspective. It’s an interesting irony that in many cases a person’s success becomes their own worst enemy and I think Bill is discovering that now. His biggest failing now might be trying to be re-invent himself as Marty McFly thinking he can go back to the future.