A quick note of thanks before we get into this ...
Today, if you can believe it or not (I can't, really) is the fifth anniversary of the opening of BostonSportsJournal.com. When we embarked, none of us had any idea whether it would last five days or months ... so to get to five years ... incredible. I know I've said it many times before, but we could not have done this without you, our loyal multi-year subscribers with thousands there from the very beginning. So thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Your hard-earned money keeps the lights on and people employed. I also wanted to thank our staff, past, present and future, especially Sean McAdam who is an OG, their wives, families and significant others because they work their tails off. Also, my wife, Mrs. BSJ, who without her, a lot of this would not be possible. ... OK, enough with the sentimentality ... On to Year 6 and the 2022 NFL season!!
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One of the favorite pastimes over the last 20-odd years in New England and the national media is to come up with some sort of narrative about why Bill Belichick is about to do something, or to explain his decisions away. They are always diabolical and/or brilliant, and years ahead of anyone in the NFL. They are never mundane or the simplest answer. These theories range from the interesting and in-the-park, to the recent asinine statements by noted NFL and QB philosopher Robert Griffin III that it's in fact a brilliant strategy by Belichick to not have any offensive coaches with, you know, offensive experience because that will make them difficult to defend early in the season.
I don't have the time nor the inclination to explain the levels of dumb any of that nonsense is.
But it goes back to the well-worn pattern that everything Belichick does, every decision he makes it the right one and even if it doesn't look good right now, it's going to pay off in short order because of who is making the decision. "The genius of Bill Belichick ..."
No one respects Belichick's football acumen more than I do, and I have a track record of giving his decisions plenty of air to breathe. Sometimes I've been rewarded. Sometimes I haven't. But only a fool would look at his recent track record and how the Patriots got to this point — three years without a playoff victory, declining play at the end of every season, getting blown out in their last two playoff losses — and not changed to a more skeptical tune when it comes to analyzing the Patriots' HC and his thought process.
But, certainly, we can agree that Belichick does everything for a reason. It may not work at the end of the day, but Belichick pours over his decisions for days, weeks and months. There is a reason he does everything. They just aren't always brilliant. He's human, we think.
That leads us into his decision this week to not name any coordinators outside of Cameron Achord with special teams, who did arguably and statistically the worst any coach has done during Belichick's tenure. If you're surprised Belichick did that ... you shouldn't be, you're all smarter than that. I thought, at most, he would name Matt Patricia the run game coordinator and Joe Judge the pass game coordinator, which they are likely to be. Instead, we were given:
Patricia — Senior football advisor/offensive line coach
Judge — Offensive assistant/QBs
Vinnie Sunseri — RBs
Troy Brown — WRs/KRs
Nick Caley — TEs
Billy Yates — Assistant OL
Evan Rothstein — Offensive assistant
Tyler Hughes — Offensive assistant
Ross Douglas — WRs/NFL coaching fellowship
Steve Belichick — LBs
Jerod Mayo — LBs
DeMarcus Covington — DL
Brian Belichick — Safeties
Mike Pellegrino — DBs
V'Angelo Bentley — Defense/NFL coaching fellowship
Basically, Belichick decided that no one would bear any responsibility for anything. If the offense is struggling, there's no one person who will take the heat or get their face plastered all over television. Same on defense. Belichick is putting it all on himself. "Show my face. Give me the questions that I can shoot back in your face."
We all agree Belichick set it up this way for a reason. But why?
Some theories, and one you're not going to like:
These are his sons, two literally are, and he's going to protect his offspring.
Patricia and Judge certainly are close enough to be considered honorary Belichicks. Belichick has become, as he's gotten older, like most current parents ... he's a Foxboro snowplow mom. Junior should not have to encounter any adversity. Anything they are struggling with is the fault of others. They should not receive any blame. It's always someone else's fault.
Someone is going to coordinate the offense. Yes, it's a collaborative effort where everyone has their piece of the gameplan, but at the end of the day someone has to put it together and make it work. There will be one person doing that on offense and defense. These are grown-ass men who have been in the NFL for multiple years and make good money. They should be in the spotlight. The players they are coaching are out there for the world to watch and take a part. Why doesn't Belichick let his coaches have to do the same thing? If I was a player, especially a Mac Jones who will have to deal with the spotlight every week, I'd be pissed that Belichick was basically hiding my coaches from responsibility. If my neck is on the line, shouldn't their's?
Why isn't Steve Belichick still the outside linebackers coach? Is that because some people, including in this space, have pointed out that zero of the team's outside linebackers have developed or played well wire to wire the last three years? Was that too much heat for Steve? Of course it's not, he's a big boy and is smart and confident. Someone is coaching the OLBs more than the other ... why not just tell us?
Belichick has a feeling this isn't going to go well and wants to make sure he gets all the blame.
It's usually that Belichick is doing something because he's going to look brilliant at the end of the day. What if, in fact, the opposite is true here. What if he realized that his lack of succession plans at OC, QB, TE, CB ... hell, just about every position save safety the last five years, has finally caught up to him, he wasn't going to make drastic outside hires to bail himself on the coaching staff — after making them in personnel the year before — and realized this was going to be rough rebuilding year at best, and possibly his worst season ever at worst?
Is it fair for, say, Patricia and Judge and their careers to get tagged with a bad offense because of the failing of Belichick? Should Steve and Jerod, underwhelming replacing Brian Flores, be in the spotlight for a defense that is going through a serious overhaul at linebacker and cornerback?
It really isn't. It's true that any success and failings of this team this season should squarely fall on Belichick's shoulders. He literally got the team into this situation. If it's a mess, then he does deserve the blame. If it's a success, I'm sure he'll make sure to prop up those guys.
But at the end of the day, this is all silly and ridiculous. These are professional men. They agreed to take these positions — they didn't have to — and know what comes with that. Like the players they send out there every week, should be given all of the responsibility and the spotlight ... good, bad or ugly.