Patriots Have Become Embarrassing to Witness

Embarrassing? A Bill Belichick Patriots team? Sounds a little harsh don’t you think? I don’t. That is what the New England Patriots have become in the year 2022. After the game we witnessed on Sunday, with Jakobi Meyers throwing a lateral straight to Raiders edge rusher Chandler Jones in a tie game and watching him bulldoze quarterback Mac Jones to end the game 24-30, embarrassing is the perfect word to describe them.

The final play that ended the Patriots game, and very well may have changed the direction of their season, isn’t the only thing that makes me use such harsh terminology to describe New England’s football team this year. But it pretty much paints what it’s been like to watch this squad since September.

What else could you expect from a football operation that has a former defensive coordinator calling the plays? Or a former special teams coordinator coaching the most important player on the team, your first-round quarterback. New England has just been so far and away from the well-oiled, methodical, and often cerebral football machine we’ve become to know them as in the 21^st century. You wouldn’t know it was Bill Belichick running the operation just by watching it. From undisciplined penalties to self-inflicted wounds such as the time-out call on the goal line, after running three plays from the shotgun against the worst defense against goal-to-go situations. This was the first time the Raiders didn’t give up a score from within five yards of the endzone. The Patriots are unrecognizable from the usually smart and disciplined selves we’ve come to know these Bill Belichick teams as.

What else can we say about this team? They’re just not built for the big moments. They’re not good enough, they’re not smart enough, and they’re not well-coached. A New England Patriots team, headed by the greatest coach of all time, not well coached. That’s a big statement. But it’s not reactionary nor is it wrong.

Who is to blame?

I know the media loves to throw Matt Patricia under the bus, and I generally agree with the sentiment. But who do you think put Patricia in that position to fail? Patricia can only take the job that’s given to him. Belichick as the general manager of football operations in Foxboro has the authority to put Patricia wherever he so pleases. And he decided to give the reins of the entire offense on gameday to a former defensive coordinator. A defensive coach that got ousted from Detroit for how badly he destroyed their progress. A coach that made quarterback Matthew Stafford make sure he told the Lions “Don’t trade me to New England” when he was moving out of Ford Field. And we see what kind of impact he’s having on Mac Jones.

There’s a lot wrong with this football team, and at the end of the day, it reflects on Bill Belichick. He has failed to put this team in a position to win and now should answer for it. What is owner Bob Kraft’s method of doing this? I have no idea. I can only theorize that it goes something like Kraft having a conversation that sounds like this; “Stop embarrassing me on a weekly basis, getting us pulled from primetime slots for teams like Dan Snyder’s Commanders, and hire an actual offensive coach because it’s obvious plugging and playing around with coaches doesn’t work”. Then react to what Belichick responds with.

The path to playoffs is closing

Down the stretch the Patriots play the Bengals at home on Christmas Eve, the Miami Dolphins at home, then travel to Buffalo to see the Bills to cap it all off. To make the playoffs they have to win at least two of these games, then hope that the 8-6 Chargers drop a game themselves and give up that seventh seed. But who really expects this team to do anything in the playoffs? Not with the current setup they have, that’s for damn sure.

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