Felger & Mazz: Thoughts on the Patriots dysfunction
The New England Patriots 2023 season will come to an end on Sunday against on Sunday against the New York Jets. Leading up to the end of the season a few recent stories, one by Andrew Callahan and Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald and one by Chad Graff of The Athletic, have come out discussing the dysfunction in New England in 2023. On Thursday’s Felger and Mazz, the guys react to the stories.
Thoughts on the Patriots news of the day…
Felger: I think the Kraft’s have today contributed to the noise. And I’ll just say they contributed to the noise in a couple of stories, one of which is getting plenty of attention, Andrew Callahan and Doug Kyed in the Boston Herald, and deservedly so. But I think there was another one in The Athletic that I’m not sure when it was posted, I think yesterday. Let’s just put it this way, you read the two stories today…Bill Belichick is taking a beating. It’s a bloodbath out there on Bill Belichick. And there’s no other way to read this other than the guillotine is hanging over his head. Knives are not just out, he’s walking the plank.
Mazz: I’ve had this feeling all year long, and I know we’ve talked about it and now Adam Schefter is saying it obviously, again, it’s an important week, a huge week in the history of Boston sports. But there have been ample opportunities along the way, in fact, I would say countless opportunities because the timing doesn’t even matter. At any point over the last several months Robert Kraft or Jonathan Kraft or somebody could have come out and just said, “yeah, we’ve heard the noise and really I don’t know where it’s coming from. We’re keeping Bill. He’s going to be our coach for as long as he wants to be our coach. End of story”, and it all goes away. That’s it. Over. And if they felt strongly about it they could even repeat it multiple times. “Yeah. We keep hearing the news. We’re going to keep saying it, too. He’s going nowhere”. That has not happened. So, to me, it’s a tacit admission that he’s on the hot seat. You had every chance to stop it and you’ve done nothing, which means you’ve let it burn.
Felger: And then today in these stories, I think you get a sense that, well, not only are they not going to stop the talk, they’re going to contribute to it.
Jim Murray: Well, it’s the “chicken and beer” moment for the Bill Belichick Patriots, which I didn’t know if we were going to get. I really started to doubt we were going to get anything like this. I mean, it all feels like it’s coming to a head and he’s probably gonna be out at the end of the year, but I didn’t know if we were going to get like these salacious behind the scenes stories that paint the picture of a broken, dysfunctional franchise behind the scenes like it was with the 2011 Red Sox. That’s what we got today.
Listen to Felger and Mazz from 2-6 every Monday-Friday on 98.5 The Sports Hub, with hosts Mike Felger, Tony “Mazz” Massarotti, and Jim Murray “Big Jim”. You can listen live in the Sports Hub App and subscribe to their podcasts here. Follow @FelgerAndMazz on Twitter to keep up with the show!
5 reactions to the Boston Herald's Patriots season expose
Bill Belichick’s offensive staffing decisions
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – DECEMBER 18: Senior football advisor and offensive line coach Matt Patricia (L) and head coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots walk onto the field for a game against the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium on December 18, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Raiders defeated the Patriots 30-24. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The piece starts outlining how the Patriots’ current offensive coaching staff was put together. If it were up to head coach Bill Belichick though, it wouldn’t look like it does now.
According to the Herald, last year’s season “caused [Patriots owner Robert] Kraft to push for coaching changes, which led to the re-hiring of ex-Patriots assistant Bill O’Brien last January. Belichick, according to sources, preferred to keep Patricia and grow together.” Patricia’s hiring was the focal point of a similar piece by The Herald last season, after the move of hiring the former defensive coordinator to run the offense was widely panned from the beginning. Despite the turmoil Patricia’s role caused, Belichick didn’t seem bothered and apparently trusted him to develop in that role, rather than bringing in a more qualified candidate.
Even once the decision was made that Patricia wouldn’t be returning, Belichick still set out to get coaches he was familiar with in the building. “Days after the Patriots announced the opening of an offensive coordinator search last January, it became clear Belichick had no intention of running the search in good faith,” the Herald notes. “O’Brien was the only candidate of the five he interviewed with coordinator experience. Three were ex-players Belichick had either coached or crossed paths with in New England, one of whom, sources believe, interviewed for a different position he would later accept: offensive line coach Adrian Klemm.”
Coaching freedom limited
FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS – NOVEMBER 05: New England Patriots Offensive Coordinator Bill O’Brien looks on from the bench during the game against the Washington Commanders at Gillette Stadium on November 05, 2023 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Once the staff was assembled, it seems as though the ability to operate on their own wasn’t always there. There are reported instances of this at multiple levels.
When discussing a replacement offensive coordinator for Patricia, the need for a ‘head coach of the offense’ was discussed – an offensive coordinator with enough experience and pedigree to make major decisions outside the purview of Belichick, given the way the 2022 season went. While O’Brien was viewed as such a candidate, it now doesn’t seem like he was given that freedom when it came to building the offensive staff around him.
“According to league sources, some assistants came to believe O’Brien wanted to clean house and build his own offensive staff upon arriving in January, but Belichick denied him,” the Herald says. “Belichick allowed one hire, [Will] Lawing, who replaced ex-tight ends coach Nick Caley. To onlookers, a clear hierarchy developed with O’Brien and his assistants: there was Lawing and assistant quarterbacks coach Evan Rothstein, then everyone else.”
The piece goes on to describe the Patriots’ offensive coaching staff as, “a coaching mash unit bound not by a system, philosophy or even experience with the coordinator. There was O’Brien, Klemm, new tight ends coach Will Lawing, a loyal O’Brien disciple, and Belichick’s holdover assistants that included two former college defensive players under 30 (running backs coach Vinnie Sunseri and wide receivers coach Ross Douglas).”
Once the staff was set and the season began it seems like O’Brien had more say. “O’Brien also pulled the offense closer to him, running more unit meetings – which involve all offensive players – than Belichick and Patricia had the year before” the story says. “Consequently, positional meetings became scarce, sources said, which limited individual time shared between players and their position coaches. Most everything flowed through O’Brien.”
Within that though there are questions about just how much the Patriots’ positional coaches did. That brings us back to Klemm, who was a highly-regarded and high-priced hire.
“On the surface, it was a sensible reunion. Klemm had played and learned under legendary Patriots offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia from 2000-04. However, his fit in the year 2023 struck some in the organization as questionable,” the story says. “Klemm’s techniques and philosophy had evolved since his playing days under Scarnecchia, molded by stops at SMU, UCLA, Oregon and in Pittsburgh with the Steelers.”
Did the Patriots hire Klemm because they believed in him and his coaching system? Or did they hire him to try to replicate a system he hadn’t been a part of for 20 years, discounting the rest of his coaching experience? In the Herald piece, starting left tackle Trent Brown shares that after Klemm took a health-related leave of absence mid-season, Belichick took on a bigger role coaching the offensive line and that “with Klemm out, the patchwork offensive line was now practicing Scarnecchia’s techniques and drills instead of those he had taught.”
“I think that has to do a bit with people being set in their ways,” Brown added. “I think Klemm brings more of a new-age (approach).”
According to the story, Klemm is not expected to be back with the Patriots next year.
That leads to a big overarching question. Are the Patriots’ offensive coaching issues – and by extension their offensive issues overall – a product of bad coaching or simply micromanaging and not trusting the coaches they have to do what they think is best?
Personnel decisions were questioned
Foxborough, MA: New England Patriots offensive tackle Riley Reiff (74) works with a weight bag during 2023 training camp. (Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports)
Throughout the offseason and into training camp, the building of the offensive line was a major external questions about the team. We now know some of those decisions were being questioned inside the building as well.
“Outside the front office, a few staffers privately pointed fingers back at decision-makers about the talent available,” the Herald notes, adding that Klemm had “a loud exchange” with director of player personnel Matt Groh. There’s also a quote from an anonymous source about the draft strategy. “We didn’t invest in the offensive line until the fourth round, didn’t take a receiver until the sixth,” the source told the Herald. “How do we spend the first three picks on defense when tackle was the biggest problem on the team last year?”
Notably, none of the Patriots’ three offensive line picks in the fourth and fifth rounds were tackles. The team tried to convert rookie Sidy Sow to tackle in camp, but he ended up back playing guard by the start of the regular season.
The Patriots’ two free agent signings at the position – neither of whom qualify as a premium offseason investment – weren’t able to contribute much, as 34-year-old Riley Reiff played in just one game while battling injuries, while Calvin Anderson struggled early before being shut down for the season with an illness.
For the second year in a row, not making a major move at tackle burned the Patriots. Clearly, people in the building noticed. If they want to turn things around quickly in 2024 that approach will need to change.
Quarterback indecision was a factor
Oct 8, 2023; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Bailey Zappe (4) quarterback Mac Jones (10) and quarterback Will Grier (19) walk out of the tunnel prior to a game against the New Orleans Saints at Gillette Stadium. Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
With the Patriots winning two of three games late in the season with Bailey Zappe at quarterback, many questioned why the quarterback change wasn’t made sooner. Based on this report, it sounds like Zappe never made a true push at the job, with Mac Jones ‘losing’ it more than Zappe ‘won’ it.
“The internal consensus was he hadn’t beaten Jones out so much as waited him out,” the piece reads. “Zappe continued to throw as many, if not more interceptions, in the weeks of practice leading up to that 6-0 shutout loss to the Chargers.”
Still the change did need to be made. Jones is described as ‘broken,’ with one source telling the Herald, “we had no chance to win with Mac at quarterback.”
As the quarterback change was being made, the team left the starting job uncertain for multiple weeks. While it’s one thing not to openly declare a starter to the media/public, it appears those inside the building weren’t always informed of the direction. That includes the quarterbacks themselves.
“Instead of rallying to support the starter each week, they are often siloed in their own preparation,” the Herald story reads. “Several members of the organization believe they would have benefitted from a veteran backup with experience in more cooperative rooms who could direct them and tie the room together.”
“There definitely isn’t healthy communication in there about trying to win football games,” a source told Callahan and Kyed. It’s fair to wonder if the quarterback play would have improved with a clearly-stated plan in place, rather than having both players guess for weeks at a time whether or not they’d start.
Players started acting out
Dec 7, 2023; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; New England Patriots offensive tackle Trent Brown (77) blocks against Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Nick Herbig (51) during the third quarter at Acrisure Stadium. Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Clearly, there’s still significant buy-in with some players on the team in regards to Belichick. “The guys still respond to him,” the Herald relayed from a source.
Still, the story highlights instances of players clashing with coaches or otherwise appearing to be checked out. That includes cornerback Jack Jones “blowing up” at cornerbacks coach Mike Pellegrino for not starting the Germany game against the Colts, a week after being suspended for being late to the team hotel. The team waived Jones the next day, and he’s gone on to play a significant role for the Las Vegas Raiders.
Additionally, after the win in Pittsburgh last month Trent Brown “openly discussed plans to play for an NFC team in the team locker room.”
The departure of Malik Cunningham also seems to have caused waves, with the Herald noting that “some organization members told Cunningham he had made the right decision to leave New England” when he signed with the Baltimore Ravens in mid-December.
