Getty New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick
The 2022 season was a disappointment for the New England Patriots and a former player revealed what he thought was Bill Belichick’s “biggest mistake” last season.
Former Patriots linebacker and current ESPN analyst Tedy Bruschi said on Monday’s edition of “Get Up” that having Matt Patricia serve as offensive coordinator and Joe Judge take over as quarterback’s coach was a major error by Belichick.
“I think that the biggest mistake that Bill made was this: He overestimated his players’ ability to handle that type of change. That’s what I think the problem was,” Bruschi said.
“Because when they’re looking around and they don’t know who the offensive coordinator is, they see Judge, they see Patricia, they see confusion,” The former Patriot added. “They didn’t have anybody in there to say, ‘Hey, fellas, stop. This is the way it’s going to be. Let’s all get on the same page,’ from a player perspective. That’s what they didn’t have and Bill overestimated his players to do that.”
It is unknown whether or not Patricia will return to New England. Belichick was asked- on Monday if he will be bringing back Patricia and he simply replied, “not sure.”
Belichick in rare form this morning:
What made you go after JuJu Smith-Schuster?
“Good player, good guy, look forward to having him.”
Why bring back Bill O’Brien “Um, thought it was the best thing for the team.”
Will Matt Patricia be with the Patriots?
“Not sure.”
Bill Belichick has Given Joe Judge a New Role
After the struggles of 2022, Judge will have a new role in New England according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. The insider tweeted that Judge will be an “assistant head coach” in 2023.
Jobs shaking out in NE, and here’s a big one—Joe Judge will be in an ass’t head coach role with the @Patriots in ’23 (with personnel elements/some parallels to Matt Patricia’s ’21 role), per sources.
On-field, he’ll work closely with Cam Achord and Joe Houston on special teams.
Breer later appeared on NBC Sports Boston and clarified exactly what Judge’s role could entail.
“I think people are making the mistake of looking at this as like all of a sudden now he’s second in command in the organization. He isn’t,” Breer said. “I think this should be taken very literally that he’s going to be taking things off of Bill’s plate in some ways. It’s gonna be like the role that Matt Patricia served in two years ago in 2021 in that he’s gonna be a liaison between scouting and coaching. He’s gonna have some head coach-like duties to what he does. And part of that I think is gonna be to free Bill up to do a little bit more.”
Breer then went on to further clarify that Judge will be involved in coaching the special teams.
“And then another part of his job is gonna be to oversee the special teams,” Breer added. “I think we can all agree that the special teams were a huge problem last year and maybe a bigger problem than they’ve been at any point in Bill Belichick’s 23 years in New England. And so, I think, the way you want to look at this is, it’s very literally assistant head coach. It’s like taking things off of Bill’s plate, serving in a lot of different ways, and trying to make the operation as a whole run a little smoother.”
New England Patriots Owner Robert Kraft Creates $25 Million Campaign to Fight Antisemitism
On Monday, Patriots owner Robert Kraft announced that he and his family have created a $25 million campaign that will aim to fight antisemitism.
“This is about doing what’s right for America, to keep our democracy thriving and keep equal opportunities for all people,” Kraft said on “Sports Seriously” on Monday. “When this happens to one group, it’s going to keep growing and happen with all groups.”
“I see what’s happening in America today, not unlike what happened in Germany in the late ‘30s, and it makes me very sad,” Kraft added. “So I said, ‘What can I do to try to make an impact or a difference?’”