The New England Patriots were embarrassed in ways you wouldn’t have thought possible if video evidence of their fourth-quarter meltdown against the Las Vegas Raiders didn’t exist.
Whether Sunday’s game result didn’t piss off Patriots owner Robert Kraft, I don’t know what that would take. They don’t just look bad, they sometimes look totally incompetent on the football pitch.
Yes, the truth hurts, but Kraft can’t just grind it down and take it anymore. Now is the time to walk straight into Coach Bill Belichick’s office and start making demands. The Death Star has landed and the Imperial March has ceased to play long ago for the man once heralded as Darth Belichick by his contemporaries.
Change has to come from Kraft, with or without Belichick.
It would be easy to lay the blame at the feet of Matt Patricia, the former defensive coordinator who was suddenly handed the offensive call sheet. We could even put the responsibility on the players. The bad snap from long snapper Joe Cardona prompted the blocked punt that set up an easy touchdown for the Raiders. And Jakobi Meyers has embarked on one of the worst turnovers in franchise history.
People literally laughed at the Patriots, and I’m not talking about the indulgent crackles of those who want to see the legendary franchise played in a football game.
They were laughing at New England’s incompetence.
The greatest franchise in NFL history with the greatest coach suddenly looked like the dumbest team in the league.
Belichick was the one to get the Patriots trying to get another offensive play with just three seconds left in the game, instead of kneeling and taking the Raiders into overtime. He is the culprit behind the offensive kerfuffle of the season for giving Patricia the reins of the game, while making him the main supervisor of the struggling offensive line.
The Patriots had every opportunity to bring in an experienced offensive coordinator, but Belichick apparently had a preference for hiring inside coaches.
How is it going for him this season?
New England went from being one of the top 10 teams in scoring and red zone offense to one of the worst units in the league. After Sunday’s loss, the Patriots are now dead last in red zone point percentage (37.4).
Belichick can’t just be allowed to rewind this mess of a situation to 2023. If the original is that bad, the sequel would be a real disaster.
Patricia is expected to turn in her offensive call sheet at the end of the season, and the Patriots need to spend time finding a legitimate offensive coordinator who can undo the regression this team helped cause sophomore quarterback Mac Jones. .
Belichick can either get on the Kraft train or get off it, but some serious changes need to be made for the good of the team.
It’s time for the Patriots to stop neglecting the offensive side of the ball. Simply plugging Patricia in to multi-task offensively was never going to work. There is no cheat sheet in an AFC East Division as competitive as it has ever been. Both Josh Allen and Tua Tagovailoa are franchise quarterbacks armed to the teeth with offensive firepower.
Still, Jones is playing behind a shoddy offensive line with a receiving unit that has defensive back Marcus Jones (1) with nearly as many touchdowns as the Patriots’ top receiver Jakobi Meyers (3).
Belichick has had ample time and opportunity to build his post-Tom Brady Patriots image, and so far it has been a complete failure. Sure, they made the playoffs last season, but they were quickly knocked out in a 47-17 first-round loss to the Buffalo Bills.
This Patriots team is spinning its wheels, and it only gets better with Belichick micromanaging everything. Who thought the day would come when the organization that handed out six Lombardi trophies in less than two decades would be the laughingstock of the NFL?
If the change doesn’t come from Belichick, it has to come from Kraft.
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