Monday Night Football Thread

Not even Bill Belichick could carry this broken Patriots team

Bill Belichick has done it: He has built the worst team of his tenure in New England.

The 2020 Patriots are the worst unit he’s both assembled and coached since being fired by the Cleveland Browns after the 1995 season.

Belichick inherited a fairly brutal group in 2000 when he took the organization off Pete Carroll’s hands. That team wasn’t really a Belichick team — not yet. The organization was still in transition.

So as far as Belichick-created teams go, this one is the biggest stinker of all. Not even Belichick, the greatest coach of all time, could figure out how to make the playoffs with this roster. He cut the sleeves on this sweatshirt too short — or too long? Whatever is worse.

At midseason, he realized he was in trouble. He started pointing out the Patriots’ cap problems. Yes, the man who is always on to the next game was bemoaning problems created in 2019. He said the Patriots sold out for the final years of Brady’s career, and they were dealing with the recourse, which showed in dead cap hit from Brady’s, Michael Bennett’s and Antonio Brown’s contracts. Because the Patriots were carrying that $20 million in dead cap, Belichick had issues signing free agents in March. By the time the Patriots saw a league-high eight players opt out due to the pandemic, free agency was pretty much over. New England added room under the cap when those players decided to stay home, but had no one to spend it on. And so Belichick avoided spending for spending’s sake.

But the Patriots’ shortage of talent goes beyond the salary cap issues — which, by the way, Belichick created for himself. Belichick had a transition plan, and it’s easy to see based on his last three first-round picks: a left tackle (Isaiah Wynn), a running back (Sony Michel) and a receiver (N’Keal Harry). Belichick wanted to help the next quarterback acclimate by surrounding him with young and inexpensive talent. That hasn’t worked in 2020, because those young players haven’t been able to produce, whether because of injuries or a lack of development — or both.

And that’s kind of the story throughout New England’s roster. Much like the Patriots couldn’t figure out how to replace Tom Brady, they’ve struggled — uncharacteristically — to fill holes from other major departures. The big names that were absent in 2020 — Julian Edelman (IR), Dont’a Hightower (COVID-19 opt-out), Rob Gronkowski (retirement, then traded) — did not have a next man up that was ready to contribute. The Patriots looked woefully undermanned at receiver, linebacker and tight end. And you can debate about whether they were undermanned at quarterback or not, with Newton at the helm. But his passing statistics speak to the unimpressive nature of the offense and his performance in it: 65.4 completion percentage, 2,415 passing yards, 5 touchdowns, 10 interceptions and a 78.9 quarterback rating.

Belichick is famous for finding ways to move on from stars such as Lawyer Miloy, Rodney Harrison, Mike Vrabel, Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Chandler Jones, Jamie Collins, Malcolm Butler and so many others. That’s how he’s gotten through years of transition to continue his playoff streaks. But this year, the Patriots coach came up short, with issues developing young players and poor talent identification in the veteran minimum contracts that typically help fuel the Patriots (and most good NFL teams). Belichick got unlucky with his opt-outs in a year when he was already facing huge transition, most notably at quarterback.

So the Patriots couldn’t throw the ball, in part because Newton hasn’t played well and in part because he has no one to help him. And New England’s defense regressed from one of the NFL’s best in 2019 to one of the worst in 2020 — which made life even more difficult for an offense built to succeed through running the ball. As brilliant as Belichick has been — and he’s been pretty darn good this year — we’ve seen talented teams (like the Los Angeles Rams and the Buffalo Bills) demoralize the Patriots in recent weeks.

It’s a reminder that coaching only goes so far. For years, Brady and Belichick could help the Patriots overcome major roster issues. Now it’s just Belichick. And his schemes and wrinkles and X’s and O’s haven’t been enough to win games. He needs more talent. It’s that simple. This roster is loaded with youngsters whose potential is TBD.

But Belichick has $60 million in cap space this offseason, and a draft pick in the top half of the first round. There’s reason to believe he can and will turn around the Patriots. But this season is a sobering reminder that Belichick The GM needs to be better to Belichick The Coach. Otherwise, the Patriots’ Dynasty is finished.