Wins have been hard to come by in New England this season, with the Patriots winning only one of their first six games. Naturally, fans and pundits have been looking for a scapegoat. Mac Jones and the putrid Patriots offense have earned their fair share of the blame, and even Bill Belichick‘s job security has been called into question.
Ben Volin of the Boston Globe recently explored how the Patriots got to this point, and the reporter didn’t exclude owner Robert Kraft when exploring the root cause of the organization’s issues. While ownership allowed Belichick free rein during the Patriots’ dynasty, Kraft’s recent meddling has contributed to the organization’s current predicament.
It started back in 2017, when Kraft forced Belichick to move on from Jimmy Garoppolo in favor of an aging Tom Brady. The following year, it was Kraft that convinced offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to renege on his HC deal with the Colts and stick in New England. Both of those decisions ultimately benefited the Patriots (Brady won another ring while McDaniels helped guide Jones to a successful rookie campaign), but those decisions may have emboldened the owner in recent years.
Specifically, it was Kraft’s decision to give de facto defensive coordinator Jerod Mayo a pay raise this past offseason while also potentially promising him the future head coaching gig. Mayo has earned respect around the NFL and has been considered for head coaching gigs, but Kraft’s promise may limit the organization’s ability to completely clean house. Further, Kraft also convinced Belichick to hire offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien and offensive line coach Adrian Klemm, and the Patriots offense and offensive line have struggled mightily in 2023.
Most significantly, some NFL sources believe that Kraft was the one who chose Jones in the first round of the 2021 draft, per Volin. This isn’t a huge surprise; Belichick has never seemed fully committed to the young quarterback, perhaps explaining why Jones’ confidence appears completely shot in 2023.
It’s probably easiest to place blame on all of Kraft, Belichick, and Jones, but Volin notes that there’s plenty of other reasons why the Patriots find themselves at the bottom of the standings. The front office and coaching staff have had a major brain drain in recent years. This loss of coaching/front office talent wasn’t any different during New England’s heyday, but as Volin writes, the Patriots have struggled to find replacements like they used to.
Kraft, of course, isn’t going anywhere, so Jones and Belichick would seemingly be the main scapegoats assuming things continue to go south. In a separate column, Volin explored some potential destinations for Belichick if he ends up getting pushed out in New England. In informal conversations with league personnel, the most popular hypothetical landing spots for the iconic coach were the Chargers and Commanders. The Bears were also previously mentioned as a potential suitor for Belichick. While the head coach has expressed interest in coaching well into his 70s, it’s uncertain if Belichick would have interest in uprooting his life to work elsewhere.
The offense is horrible thanks to Bill sucking the life out of it. Should retire before he tarnished his legacy even more
Proving w/o Tom Terrific he’s glorified Jeff fisher. Cant blame Bill its alot harder to game plan when u don’t have video of opposing tms scripted plays.
Kraft is certainly more spoiled than good, but those are claims that would be hard to verify and carry a lot of connotations. I don’t doubt that Kraft thinks he knows more than he does due to years of owning a good franchise, but I can also say that Belichick has also needed direction in areas that he has overestimated his own capabilities in. The best outcome in Brady’s last two years would have been to rebuild the front office that helped the Patriots find good players, so the Pats could have had a better transition to the post Brady era.
Kraft, if any of that is true, should have offered his opinion. Any power making decisions should have been in the hands of football personnel as a general rule. The issue is that now there is only one person on that department remaining from those years of success, which is Belichick. Adams, Caserio, Pioli, and the others who contributed to that run are gone. Even if most Patriots executives and coaches fail elsewhere, the operation in New England relied a lot on them to keep the engine running.
When Belichick first started in New England, he could use an elite defense to hold down the team, find a decent quarterback to not mess up the offense. That’s how Brady first started, before taking over himself in the mid 2000s. Now, and partially because of Brady, Favre, Rodgers, Manning, Luck and Brees and others, the NFL and its rules have put the success of the team firmly in the hands of the quarterback and the offense. Belichick can’t just throw in a guy like he used to and use him in equal measure to how other teams use higher profile players. He needs more talent on offense, not just at QB. That’s why the deterioration of the front office is so important. In that regard, Kraft has reason to be upset-even if he should consider what good Belichick actually does bring to the table. Having a good executive department with Belichick focusing on coaching is probably the best option, if it’s even possible. Big if, there.
I do feel confident in saying that Adrian Klemm might doing the worst job in the league as an assistant, however. As much razzmatazz as Jones gets for his poor showing this year, that offensive is atrocious and only getting worse. This is especially true at the right tackle spot. Jones, or hypothetically anybody else, doesn’t have time to even get a full chance to make a mistake back there. The run blocking has not been consistent, either. Sometimes there is a push, and sometimes not. But with how badly the pass protection is playing, the run blocking is not nearly good enough to compensate. It’s quite frankly a wonder that they managed to score a touchdown at all their last game out. There’s not much you can do to improve an o-line midseason, but if the Pats could, the offense would take a big step forward to at least be competitive. For years, Belichick could not worry about the offense too much, Brady could let the team handle the support, and Kraft got to sit back and benefit from a smooth operation. Now, times have changed.
All good points. I can’t see many teams wanting BB to be their HC. The game may have passed him by.
Even fewer teams (like none) want BB the GM.
What was the story behind Meyers leaving? He looks great to me. Hard to believe that the Pats had better options.
Guaranteed money vs incentives. BB call
Yeah, it was a spending thing. Seemed off to me at the time. Seems worse now. Meyers isn’t going to carry an offense on his own, but he’s definitely a solid piece on any team.
Tough season for Kraft, but he’ll find some way to have a happy ending.
My guess the Pat’s look to move Mac at the deadline to Las Vegas for the best O Guard or O Tackle Josh is willing to part with. Then struggle through the season with Zappe, Cunningham and Grier.
What a Josh move that would be ‘Bring in another Patriot! We need my players here, even if they are horrible football players.’.
The amount of coverage this story is getting is rather ridiculous. Why can’t people just accept that sports dynasties don’t last forever? The Patriots had a great run but it was inevitable that at some point the winning would end.
That’s where Gibbs and Walsh were smart to leave as winners. They made their legacy, certainly both HoF’ers and went out on their own terms.
You forget that Gibbs returned to the Redskins for a second stint that wasn’t all that great.
I remember that. But he did go to 2 playoff games w/ 1 victory. No one could win under Danny, not even an all timer. Says how awful Dan is. And to your point, Parcells clearly won in Dallas, NY Jets, & NE.
I think the transition worked for Gibbs because he had auto racing interests to pursue after football. Some guys like Al Davis, George Allen and BB got so totally absorbed in football that they really never had any kind of life beyond it (which makes walking away so much harder).
This story is getting this much coverage because the talking heads and beat reporters HATE BB. And, now that he’s failing, they are pointing it out with glee.
His relationship with the media has always been poor and his distain for them is obvious.
This is all about payback.
Exactly, Lars.
I think BB and other HCs could make a pretty convincing argument that the media is far more intrusive than they need to be. There are times when the sports media are more aggressive than piranhas or celebrity paparazzi. A HC should be able to go to the rest room without having to worry about being ambushed by a reporter. These guys are under a microscope 24/7.
So Kraft’s meddling got them another SB win and away from another year of Cam Newton?
You just hate to see it.
I’m loving it! And you know some dumb team (Carolina comes to mind) will think Bill can be their savior & sign him. Then he’ll proceed to lose there as well. With his apologist saying ‘it takes 3 years to rebuild. Cut Billy the goat some slack!’.
I read somewhere The Pats don’t have a single player from their 2019 draft class on their roster. Sums up Bill the GM.
Buffalo home this week, Miami away next week. A loss in either or both games should be enough for Belichick to get the sack.
At any point the Patriots have a losing season record going forward they should be forced to wear the pat patriot jerseys