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Part I: Belichick takes the worst loss of his career
It’s been a long, storied coaching career for future Hall of Famer Bill Belichick, but things have finally hit a wall. Sunday marked the worst beating of his career, a 38-3 shellacking at the hands of Mike McCarthy and his high-powered Dallas Cowboys.
Offensively, quarterback Mac Jones was like a deer in headlights. Whatever the Cowboys threw at him defensively, he reacted with confusion and a lot of second-guessing before releasing the football.
Defensively, things weren’t any better. The supposed ‘vaunted’ Belichick D was nowhere to be found. Dak Prescott picked his spots all day against New England’s D, registering only six incomplete passes in the entire game.
This drubbing marked a perfect opportunity for owner Bob Kraft to move on. It’s time. The ship has sailed. This organization can no longer compete with Bill Belichick as its head coach.
Part II: Offensive mindset is stuck in the past
We all know this part: Bill Belichick is stuck in his ways.
It’s Bill’s way or the highway, and that is really starting to kill him at this point in his lengthy career. There’s been absolutely no evolution from the Patriots’ offense. Last season Belichick displayed so much ego that he was willing to throw Matt Patricia (a defensive coordinator by trade) and Joe Judge (an irrelevant coach) out there as co-offensive coordinators. The result, not surprisingly, was a complete and utter disaster.
This season, the keys were turned over to Bill O’Brien. Is that any better? Is O’Brien thought of as any sort of offensive innovator in this league anymore? I don’t think so, as evidenced by Jones and Bailey Zappe’s dinking and dunking all over the field.
The Pats never stretch the field. Belichick thinks it’s ground-and-pound like Rex Ryan’s old style with the Jets. Times have changed – offenses have really opened things up – yet Belichick gets tighter and tighter, making his offense even more predictable to the opposition. It’s a travesty to watch.
Part III: Belichick doesn’t care enough about raw talent
This much is clear: Belichick also operates as the quasi-GM of the New England Patriots. He is making personnel decisions. He is driving the bus during the NFL Draft.
And that’s most certainly a bad thing, so much so that Sean McVay has openly made fun of Belichick’s picks during the draft.
The problem is that Belichick is looking for ‘his’ guys instead of ‘the’ guys. He’s not drafting raw talent. He’s not drafting explosive playmakers. Instead, he’s looking for low-maintenance players to fit his ‘system’ – but the problem is his system doesn’t matter anymore. Belichick is out there coaching dinosaur ball. He’s been left in the dust by the Andy Reid’s, Kyle Shanahan’s and Mike McDaniel’s of the world (the innovators).
In the end, there’s no innovation from Belichick. The Patriots are stuck in the mud. Their franchise is going nowhere fast. When you get into a situation as bad as this, there’s only one thing left to do:
Fire one of the greatest coaches in the history of professional sports.
John Frascella is a published sports author who has been covering the NFL for 19 years. Follow him on Twitter @LegendSports7 for all things NFL, NBA and MLB throughout the year.
