Before Matt Patricia left, fans loved him. Him coming off the plane in a Roger Goodell clown shirt is still a memory ingrained in fans heads.
Some fans hold a grudge for superbowl 52, where the Patriots gave up 532 yards and 41 points to the Eagles. They ignore that the Patriots only turnover came due to a Tom Brady fumble. Ignored some of the bad calls by the refs. And ignored that the Malcolm Butler got benched, unofficially supposedly due to punching Steve Belichick.
In 2022 the Patriots put Patricia in charge of the offensive line, something he hadn't done in like 20 years. They also put him in charge of the offense. Granted he had been a defensive coordinator but they two jobs are not the same. On top of that the Patriots had Patricia try to install and run an offense nobody in the building had experience with.
Even thought Matt Patricia had no experience, the Patriots finished 17th in scoring. 20th in passing yardage, 19th in passing touchdowns, 24th in rushing yards and 22nd in rushing touchdowns. Finishing 26 in total yards. This while sitting Bourne who fans claimed was the best receiver and also why Harris and Mac Jones both spent time injured and while fans claimed the Patriots had no weapons.
Patricia's offense in his rookie year as OC finished in the top 75% of NFL teams, even if he finished 26th in total yards, he was in the top 75% of both the pass and run. And fans want to blame him for the 2022 season. Imagine being unqualified for a job and being better than 1/4 the people doing the job.
Fans will miss the added knowledge to the defensive side of the ball. And when the team gets out played at some point in 2023. Fans will blame Steve and Bill but the real culprit will be the fans that chased Matt Patricia and his knowledge out the door. Like him or not, he knows more about defensive football than fans will ever know. And after 2022, he probably knows more about offense than a good percentage of the fan base too.
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