EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – Bill Belichick’s work is done. He was asked 22 questions in four minutes and gave brief answers while mumbling about how everyone on his struggling team had been told to be ready to play. He didn’t want anything else. So he slowly put his right hand down, bringing his post-game news conference to an abrupt end.
Bill Belichick live postgame press conference: https://t.co/gpm9zzq8YC
– New England Patriots (@Patriots) 26 November 2023
The 71-year-old coach emerged from a tunnel and turned right across the football field of MetLife Stadium, where his New England Patriots had lost 10-7 to a New York Giants team with a backup, an unused rookie quarterback and a 10-1 lead. Has been one of the worst in the NFL.
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Three months into a bad season, there’s no point ignoring the obvious. After nine losses in 11 games and with a quarterback situation that is turning this once-proud franchise into a laughing stock, Belichick has no answers. The tricks and tactics he used did not work. His team has not responded. His rooster stinks. And their explanations of how it got so bad are even worse.
“I told everyone to be ready to go,” Belichick said four different times.
Of course, all of this leads to the uncomfortable question that will loom over the final six games of this season. Is Belichick going to come back? Are these the final games of an illustrious career, ending with an explosion that once seemed unfathomable?
What could be a more important question after seeing the product that Belichick’s team presented on Sunday? They tried something different this week, attempting to jump-start a weak offense that has been dragging this team down. Belichick decided No Naming a starting quarterback. They let Mac Jones and Bailey Zappé get practice reps with the starting offensive tackle, hoping one of them would be good enough that a decision would be made for him.
Instead, it was another decision (or indecision?) from Belichick that backfired for this team. Belichick is the same coach who explained to Tom Brady in 2001 about getting practice reps on Drew Bledsoe by saying that a team can’t split those sessions with multiple quarterbacks because they’re so valuable – he’s missing out. Any Snaps hinder the starting QB’s preparation.
But through Week 12 this season, Belichick split practice reps between Jones and Zappé. Perhaps it should be no surprise that the two struggled.
The argument here is not for either Jones or Jappe. In fact, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that both are bad.
But it’s the coach’s job to make the decision and do everything he can to get it, rather than having them compete for the starting job at the end of the season. he quarterback Ready.
If you want to play Jones, try to boost his confidence. Support him publicly. Do what you can to make sure he doesn’t have to make any difficult decisions. See if running the ball works.
Otherwise, switch to Zappe. It would be easy to say that Jones cannot be fixed at this point. Go to Zapp. Spend a week getting him ready to play. Plan a simple, crude crime that he can master.
– Fox Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) 26 November 2023
Instead, Belichick chose an obscure midseason contest that brought out the worst of both quarterbacks. They had almost the same number of interceptions in double (or was it triple?) coverage.
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The move potentially caused irreparable damage to Jones, who had to come off the bench for the fourth time in 11 games this season. He seems completely broken and needs a fresh start somewhere else. So the Patriots will likely have to turn to Zappé, even though his summer was so bad that the Patriots cut him before Week 1. The second-year man has performed so poorly this season that he couldn’t even beat out Jones for the starting job. sunday.
All of this has made this a lost season. It doesn’t matter what the rest of the team does because the offense is that bad. The Patriots scored three touchdowns and only 30 points throughout November.
“Just bad quarterback play,” Jones said Sunday, summing things up aptly. “If the quarterback doesn’t play well, you don’t have a chance.”
This has been the case for the Patriots in 2023 and will continue to be so.
Even though owner Robert Kraft hasn’t said anything publicly about the job security of the only head coach he’s hired for the past 24 years, anyone who follows the team knows Belichick’s seat is hot on the heels. Kraft expected the season to end with a playoff berth.
Instead, their franchise has become a joke. JuJu Smith-Schuster was yelling at coach Troy Brown on the sideline Sunday. As punishment for missing curfew, players are being left home for road games (Jesse Jackson) or being cut outright (Jack Jones). The Patriots have won two games this season and haven’t won one since October 22. Their offense is tough to watch – and they were beaten very badly by the Tommy DeVito-led Giants unit. No one knows who will start in the most important decision of the game. And they’re on the cusp of a run of three straight prime-time games in which the country will be forced to sit back and see what becomes of Belichick’s team.
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This season is no longer about reaching the playoffs. That dream died a long time ago. These final few games are Belichick’s chance to show why he should remain in charge of making all football-related decisions for the Patriots. It can’t just be about resting on his six Super Bowl rings — not when the Patriots have become a laughing stock.
But the results so far have been very shameful. The Patriots failed to score a touchdown in Germany and lost to Gardner Minshew and the Indianapolis Colts. They had two weeks to get things right. Instead, they planned a meaningless quarterback competition in which both played poorly. Any pass thrown downfield by the quarterback feels like holding your breath, pray it’s not an interception attempt.
Now, after a loss to the miserable Giants that drops them to 2-9, the Patriots are in a place they haven’t been in decades. They may be the worst team in the NFL. And evidence is accumulating that Belichick no longer has the answers to fix this.
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