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Fans Are Overjoyed After New England Patriots Make Move To Bring Back Bill O’Brien As Offensive Coordinator

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It’s not often that the average NFL fan can criticize New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.

After all, Belichick helped turned the team into a dynasty, winning six Super Bowl rings along the way.

But his handling of the Patriots’ offensive coordinator situation in 2022 was a disaster from the start. New England long former coordinator Josh McDaniels when he took the head coaching job with the Las Vegas Raiders. Rather than replace McDaniels with another offensive coordinator or offensive assistant, Belichick had another idea.

He instead brought back two former assistants: Joe Judge and Matt Patricia. Both of whom had recently failed as NFL head coaches. The problem, however, is that neither had previously been an offensive coordinator. Judge served as New Engand’s special teams coordinator from 2015-2019. While Patricia was the defensive coordinator fro 2012-2017.

Ultimately, Patricia took over the team’s full-time play caller.a

The results were, as expected, awful. Second-year quarterback Mac Jones regressed heavily after making the Pro Bowl as a rookie. New England’s 314.6 yards per game ranked 26th in the league, and they averaged just 21.4 points per game.

The Patriots never really officially “fired” Patricia, but they did hire a replacement on Tuesday, and it was a familiar face.

Patriots Bring Back Bill O’Brien As New Offensive Coordinator

Bill O’Brien served as an offensive assistant under Belichick from 2007-2011, taking the reigns as the coordinator in 2011. He then began a 10-year run as a head coach which saw him head to college first with Penn State and then back to the NFL in 2020 with the Houston Texans.

When the Texans fired O’Brien following the 2020 season, Nick Saban and Alabama pounced to make him their new offensive coordinator. O’Brien has overseen two high-powered offenses with the Crimson Tide, helping Bryce Young win the Heisman Trophy in 2021.

But now he’s returning to his roots.

Ian Rapoport first linked the Pats to O’Brien a month ago, and ESPN’s Adam Schefter officially confirmed the news on Tuesday.

Patriots fans were more than happy to have him back.

https://twitter.com/LlFEOFVI/status/1617885628439613440?s=20&t=iV32526Olcd4KjmnPZZXEQ

On the other end of the spectrum, Alabama fans seemed happy to see O’Brien go.

See, everyone wins in the end.