Bill O’Brien takes responsibility for Patriots’ offensive struggles

With the New England Patriots sitting at 2-9 with the 31st ranked offense in the NFL, much of the discourse around the team has turned to assigning blame and finger-pointing. Who is most at fault for the team being in the position that it's in?

First-year offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien has been a central part of many of those discussions. During his press conference on Tuesday, O'Brien held himself accountable for some of the team's issues, specifically at the quarterback position (O'Brien is the quarterbacks coach as well as the offensive coordinator).

READ MORE:

--Expect more of the same from the Patriots at quarterback this week
--Six former Patriots named Pro Football Hall of Fame Semifinalists
--Patriots host quarterback, four others for free agent workouts

Asked about Mac Jones' confidence level at this point, O'Brien put the attention on himself. "Things haven't gone great for him this year. I don't think that he's the number one guy to blame. If you want to blame anybody, blame me," O'Brien said. "I'm the one that designs [the offense] and it's not going very well."

"At the end of the day, can he execute better? Are there things that he can do better? Sure," O'Brien continued. "But there's things that all of us have to do better to put a put a winning product on the field. And right now, that's not what it is."

The Patriots hired O'Brien this past winter, after having Matt Patricia serve as the offensive play-caller in 2022, replacing Josh McDaniels. Under Patricia the Patriots' offense finished averaging 18.1 points per game (the team averaged 21.4 points per game, thanks to a league-leading eight defensive/special teams touchdowns). So far this season the offense is averaging 13.5 points per game.

O'Brien also defended head coach Bill Belichick, when asked what it's been like to hear speculation about his job security and status.

"This is Bill Belichick we're talking about. Bill Belichick has done so much for the game of football, the New England Patriots organization. It's football," O'Brien responded. "To think about what he's done here in this organization, what he's done for this community, what he's done for this game - for the game, the game of football. He's been 50 years in the game of football."

"Just to me, I think everybody just needs to understand - look, we've all got to win. We understand we're in a winning business. We're not winning right now," O'Brien continued. "But, I think you've also got to step back and - hey, look what this guy's done for the game of football. I think that's very important to think about."

O'Brien did also reiterate a point he made last week, when it comes to how Belichick factors into the team's starting quarterback decisions. With another week ahead of Jones and Bailey Zappe battling for the starting job in practice, O'Brien reminded reporters that "there's a chain of command" when it comes to those kinds of decisions, with owner Robert Kraft, at the top, followed by Belichick, and then assistant coaches making recommendations. As he did last week, O'Brien chose to keep his recommendation about the quarterback position private out of respect for those involved.

Read more...

The voting process for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2024 took another step on Tuesday. Voting trimmed the initial list of 173 modern-era nominees down to 25 semifinalists.

That group of 25 features six former Patriots, including two long-time members of the team who won Super Bowls with the team. The other four had brief stints in New England.

READ MORE:

--8 takeaways from Sunday's loss to the New York Giants
--Week 12 Ups & Downs
--Patriots host quarterback, four others for free agent workouts

Will any of those five take the next step to becoming the 11th former Patriots inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame? The next step will be to make it to the finalists round, when the group of 25 players will be cut down to 15 in January. From there, the committee will select the five members of the Class of 2024, which will be revealed in the week leading up to the Super Bowl.

Here's a look at the former Patriots still up for induction this year...

Wilfork is in his third year on the ballot, and has now reached the semifinalist round all three times. This is as far as he made it the previous two years.

As was the case with another Patriots defensive tackle in Richard Seymour, Wilfork's Hall of Fame case goes beyond his numbers. Given how defensive tackles are used in the Patriots' defensive system, Wilfork impacted the game well beyond the box score.

During Wilfork's tenure the Patriots were regularly one of the toughest teams to run on in the NFL. When he missed 12 games in 2013 their rank against the run dropped all the way to 30th from ninth the year before. He was also one of the best pass-rushing nose tackles of his era, and played with great athleticism for his size. On top of that his durability was impressive given his position - 2013 was the only time Wilfork failed to play at least 13 games, and he played a full 16 in nine of his 13 seasons.

Still, will Wilfork's lack of raw stats force him to wait like Seymour did? It took five years of eligibility before 'Big Sey' got the nod.

If you've read any of my Pro Football Hall of Fame posts in the past, you know I feel strongly about this one. Rodney Harrison isn't just one of the biggest Hall of Fame snubs in the NFL, but across all sports.

Arguably the best strong safety of his era, Harrison is a two-time Super Bowl Champion and three-time All-Pro. He's also the inaugural member of the NFL's 30-30 Club, as the first player in league history to record both 30 career sacks and 30 career interceptions. Only Ray Lewis - a first ballot Hall of Famer - has joined him since, and no active player is particularly close.

Despite all of that, Harrison has never been a finalist in almost a decade of eligibility. This is his third time as a semifinalist, after 2021 and 2023. His induction is long overdue, but we'll have to see if this year is any different.

There are four other players who reached the semifinalist round who spent short stints with the Patriots. None of the four won a Super Bowl with the team, but one did play in one.

That one is James Harrison, who is in his second year of eligibility and is a second-time semifinalist. The long-time Steelers pass rusher recorded 84.5 sacks in his career, with the final two of those coming when he was a member of the Patriots.

Running back Fred Taylor also finished his career with the Patriots, after a dominant 11 seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He's been a semifinalist each of the last four years.

Wide receivers Reggie Wayne and Torry Holt never played a snap for the Patriots, but both spent part of a training camp in New England before retiring. Holt in particular stands out as a worthy  candidate for induction - no NFL player in the 2000s had more catches (868) or receiving yards (12,594) than Holt. His 68 touchdowns in the decade rank fifth.

Here's the full list of 2024 semifinalists, from the Pro Football Hall of Fame...

Alex Barth is a writer and digital producer for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Looking for a podcast guest? Let him know on Twitter @RealAlexBarth or via email at abarth@985TheSportsHub.com.