Getty New England Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick
The 2022 NFL season has been a difficult one for the New England Patriots and that includes Bill Belichick.
Arguably the greatest head coach of all time, Belichick has had to deal with a struggling offense. New England is at the bottom of the AFC East with a 6-6 record and is on the outside looking in of the playoff hunt.
This has made longtime NFL insider Peter King ponder if Belichick could end his career with a different team.
“I think I’ve started to wonder — and I emphasize started — whether Bill Belichick, who needs 21 wins to break Don Shula’s all-time record for coaching victories, will get them in New England,” King wrote in his Football Morning in America column.
Part of King’s skepticism has to do with the talent that the Patriots currently have on their roster.
“I think that game Thursday night said this to me: The Bills have become to New England what the Patriots were to Buffalo for two decades,” King wrote. “Not to put Josh Allen on a Tom Brady trajectory, but just in terms of football, the gap between Allen and Jones is worrisome for New England, and the talent gap between the depth of the Brandon Beane Bills and the Bill Belichick Patriots is big. That gap has led to the Bills winning the last three games in the series by an average of 19 points. Amazing to consider that the Patriots really aren’t close to Buffalo now. To triple-down on the differences between the two teams, consider how non-competitive that game felt. Buffalo was playing without two of its five most important defensive players, Von Miller and Micah Hyde, and still controlled the ball for 38 minutes. Midway through the fourth quarter, with the Bills up 24-7, New England, needing three scores, had the most painful, clunky drive imaginable—17 plays, taking almost six minutes, and getting just a field goal out of it. Six incompletions on the drive. When it was over, and Buffalo got the ensuing onside kick, Belichick didn’t even bother to use his three timeouts to try to get the ball back. He white-flagged the last two minutes. That’s how hopeless this felt.”
How Does Robert Kraft’s Age Affect the Decisions New England Makes?
With the Patriots owner turning 81, King believes that the Patriots are looking to win now and that a conventional rebuild is out of the cards.
“I think Robert Kraft, who is 81 and will enter his 30th year of Patriots ownership in 2023, is not in this to rebuild deliberately,” King wrote. “He has to be looking at the dung-show on the Patriots’ offensive staff and wondering why Belichick left the offense so wanting this year. Anyway, I can’t see anything weird happening this year. But I have my antennae up about the Patriots for 2023.”
What Time Do the Patriots Play In Week 15?
New England was supposed to play on Sunday night football in Week 15 but now that has changed. 98.5 the Sports Hub’s Scott Zolak was the first to report that the Patriots game had been flexed to the afternoon.
“Flex: The #Raiders–#Patriots game on Week 15 in Las Vegas will be flexed out of Sunday Night Football and be played at 4:05 PM, per @scottzolak,” Dov Kleiman tweeted.
Flex: The #Raiders–#Patriots game on Week 15 in Las Vegas will be flexed out of Sunday Night Football and be played at 4:05 PM, per @scottzolak
Comments
NFL Insider Questions Bill Belichick’s Future With Patriots