Bill Belichick responds to criticism of Patriots’ offense
Before the start of the Patriots’ regular season, Bill Belichick faced many questions regarding his personnel choices, mainly that of Matt Patricia taking over play-calling duties.
The former Patriots defensive coordinator was coming into his second season back with the team after his failed tenure as the head coach of the Detroit Lions. And instead of exploring options outside the organization to take over as the offensive coordinator, Belichick decided Patricia was the right way to go.
The decision was greatly criticized, primarily due to Patricia’s inexperience in coaching an offense. Although some proceeded with a benefit-of-the-doubt mindset, any optimism has vanished, seeing how the Patriots’ offense performed throughout the preseason. Not only were they outplayed consistently by the defense, but they were rarely successful in trying to do anything during practice or in games.
Because almost no offensive improvement occurred during the summer, Belichick was put in the hot seat as they prepared for their week one matchup with the Dolphins in Miami. When speaking to Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe just days before week one, the head coach proclaimed that no matter what happens with the offense during the season, it fell on his shoulders, saying, “if it doesn’t go well, blame me.”
He echoed that sentiment during his weekly appearance on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show on Monday, saying, “I’m responsible for our team’s performance, so I accept that.” When pressed further on the subject, even being asked if he would consider making any changes to the play-calling, Belichick emphasized the need for the team to play better over anything else.
"“I think we need to do what we’re doing better. I don’t think at this point making a lot of dramatic changes…it’s too hard to do that. If we can just do consistently what we were doing, I think we’ll be alright. But we just haven’t been able to have enough consistency and that’s hurt us. It’s not one thing. It’s just one time it’s one thing, the next time it’s something else. We just have to play and coach more consistently.”"
Belichick’s assessment is on par with how he’s always answered questions over the years, but his lack of open support for Patricia is a far cry from how he handled similar conversations before the start of the season. His answer doesn’t close the door on making changes this offseason, which many have been demanding from the start.
Given the current state of the offense, while also comparing their performance to last season, Belichick’s acknowledgment of the struggles may indicate he’s aware that replacing Josh McDaniels with Patricia was a mistake. At the same time, however, he let it be known that he has no plans to demote the play-caller before the end of the season, putting a stop to any speculation stemming from the latest loss to the Bills last Thursday night.
Then comes the question of Mac Jones’ apparent regression this season, presumably going hand-in-hand with the struggles holding back the offense. When responding to whether or not he was concerned about the quarterback’s performance, Belichick diverted his answer to focus on the future and what he hopes to see in the weeks ahead.
"“We’d certainly all like to be doing better than we’re doing from a record standpoint, and from an individual execution [standpoint]. But we’re going to look ahead, not backwards, and look towards the next opportunity against Arizona and get back on track this week. All the people I’ve talked to, players, coaches, think we all feel the same way about that. We can’t control what’s already happened, but we can control what’s in front of us.”"