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Bill Belichick’s Patriots haven’t looked good in awhile, pretty much ever since Tom Brady left him to go win a Super Bowl ring with the Bucs. But this season has just been dreadful.
Sitting at 1-4, with their only win coming against a backup quarterback vs the Jets, Belichick has a lot of questions to answer.
Following a brutal 34-0 loss to the Saints on Sunday, the Patriots have now suffered back-to-back blowout losses by a combined score of 72-3 when including the previous week’s 38-3 loss to the Cowboys. NFL executives are starting to take notice…
According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, NFL executives are unanimous in their assessment that Bill Belichick’s Patriots are seriously lacking in talent, including at the quarterback position.
An AFC executive bluntly stated, “Quite simply, they have no talent, and it doesn’t help that that’s at the quarterback spot as well.”
An NFC executive weighed in on the team’s struggles as well: “The offensive line is bad, they can’t protect Mac [Jones], and Mac can’t move, they have no speed on offense at the skill positions. They used to have guys that could win one-on-one matchups; they don’t have any of those guys anymore.”
An NFC coach added the team is “extremely low on talent” and criticizing their game plan: “They have a pretty vanilla plan from what I can tell. An average-at-best QB only exacerbates those issues. They aren’t exactly world-beaters on defense now either—and losing Judon really hurt, and the two feed off each other. Defense gets a stop, offense goes three-and-out, defense back out there, basically no rest. … None of their skill players scare me. Hunter Henry is solid, not close to elite. OL looks sh–ty. Backs are slow. Receivers are overpaid free agents.”
A different executive mentioned other issues, including the loss of coaches, and the fact that other teams have adapted to the Patriots strategies over time, diminishing their competitive advantages.
One recurring theme emerged – Tom Brady’s presence had masked many of the team’s personnel deficiencies and enabled Belichick’s coaching style: “Brady enabled the coaching style,” the executive said, “and covered up the personnel shortcomings.”
What will happen to Belichick at the end of the season? only time will tell, but his legacy continues to take hits every single week.