Bill Belichick gave two statements after the Raiders game about why he didn't throw a hail mary. "It's too far to throw that play in that situation." And “Couldn't throw it that far...” And now he may have some explaining to do. If not to the media, at least to the Krafts.
Against the Raiders to end the game, the Patriots chose not to throw a 55 yard pass. And you read why Bill said they chose not to. However, Mac threw a couple of bombs vs the Bengals. Two traveling at least 53 yards although one ended up being a 48 yard completion.
The offensive line has not been consistent but it showed it has the capability to buy Mac enough time to escape and throw. So Belichick has some explaining to do because if he wasn't gonna throw it up, why did he allow Stevenson to be put at risk instead of taking a knee and heading into overtime? It's quarterback's job to kneel.
Does Belichick have faith in his offense? Does he have faith in his quarterback? Does he have faith in his pass catchers and offensive line? It doesn't look like it. Last week I thought everything that happened at the end was the players fault but Bill put them in that position.
I don't see anyone in the media with the balls to straight out ask Bill Belichick if he has any faith in his offense. Bill Belichick made a mistake by not bringing in an offensive coordinator to replace Josh McDaniels.
Honestly, I think Bill thought with the minds he has on the coaching staff, plus Mac and Hoyer, that he had enough offensive intelligence to pull it off. He was wrong.
Let's be real, McDaniels was McVanilla because he wasn't aggressive enough and didn't mix in the right type of passes for Cam. And for Mac, he could've mixed in some as well. I'm talking about deep passes and RPOs. And the team has to understand that if they're gonna throw fifty fifty balls that turnovers will increase but they had Harry and now Parker. If you don't wanna throw picks, you avoid those passes and that's why Harry failed.
Under McDaniels, the pass catchers have seemed to struggle to get separation since 2018, when the team had to rely on Sony Michel, who fans quit on. McDaniels couldn't scheme them open.
Josh McDaniels barely tapped into the ability of his fullbacks ability to catch and had no idea how to use the H-back in the passing game. And I don't think he knew how to use Speedsters like Agholor, Dorsett or Corey Coleman either. It was a track meet for Agholor in 2021 which got guys open underneath but Josh didn't do much else with him.
There were people available for Bill to choose from when McDaniels left. It was said that Belichick didn't want to take a coach from Nick Saben at Alabama, who is a friend of the Patriots long tenured head coach. That doesn't mean other names we're available for at least a season.
Belichick could've signed former Jets and Dolphins head coach Adam Gase for a season while he waited for Bill O'Brien to become available. He could've asked Frank Reich to come in after his termination, Hell, he could've even brought in June Jones for a season when Hawaii purposely screwed him.
The fact is Bill has messed up the offense this season. And he deserves the blame. And it's not the first time Belichick has hindered the offense. In 2020, there were calls to bench Cam with how poor he was playing. Instead of saying of he thought Cam should be benched, here's what than offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels had to say:
"That’s Coach’s decision and I honor whatever he makes in terms of those choices. We work as hard as we can to get everybody ready to go. I’ve seen plenty of Jarrett in practice. I see him every day. I’ve seen him for two years. I’m confident that I understand where Jarrett is at in his development.."
McDaniels didn't out right challenge Bill but at the same time, he chose not to endorse starting quarterback Cam Newton and that's all one needs to know. Like Cam or not, in that situation, McDaniels didn't have his back in public. Not saying Stidham would've made a lot of difference but Bill refused to make the change. And that situation is probably one of the reasons when McDaniels was offered the Raiders job, he took it. McDaniels wanted control.
This season the offense has handicapped and regressed Mac Jones and Bill Belichick has reportedly been involved more in the game planning but how much so? And I am a big critic of McDaniels as the offensive coordinator because of play calling but how much was truly his fault?
Here's a few more questions, how much did Bill hold McDaniels back if any on play calling and depth chart moves? And how much is he interfering with Matt Patricia's game planning and play calling? How likely is it that Patricia would be doing a better job on offense with play calling but Bill is stopping him, there is a percentage, so how low is it?
I doubt either McDaniels, Belichick or Patricia will answer that, so we will never know but it's something to keep in mind because it's a possibility regardless of how improbable people might think it is.
And on the other side of the ball. Both Mayo and Steve Belichick are involved in game planning and Steve has been calling plays. So why is Mayo getting all the credit for when the defense does good and why Is Steve Belichick getting all the blame when it doesn't? And why when someone does go to praise Steve for play calling or for how well his unit is doing, people shoot it down and say it's Bill doing?
Also why is Bill getting critized for not firing Steve when there has not been a legit reason to fire his son from play calling duties? Let's be honest. The most likely reason why people want Steve fired is because he's Bill's son and Mayo is a former Patriots linebacker, that's it, there may be other reasons but the odds of them being the main reason are so small that anyone claiming them cannot be taken seriously because it's not enough to warrent Steve being demoted or fired.
Steve did a decent job as a positions coach prior to taking on play calling duties and the defense is still good with him as the play caller. Of course Mayo and Bill get credit for the defense because they're part of the staff and they do their jobs with that side of the ball.
People are scared that Steve might become the next head coach, partly because he might tarnish the Belichick name and partly because it could mean more of the same professional corporate regime and conduct for a decade after Bill leaves. And that is why they are upset about him being Bill's son.
People are tired of the winning culture, they want the disfunction that other teams have for entertainment value and they're willing to sacrifice quality football for it.
So while fans have a legit beef with Bill Belichick over the offense, they have no good reason to be upset at Belichick for not trashing his defense so that fans can have some reality TV bull crap drama to watch.
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