Getty Bill Belichick, Patriots coach
It was not a good day for Patriots coach Bill Belichick. The Dallas Cowboys bounced back from a loss against Arizona to absolutely throttle the visitors, 38-3, the worst loss in Belichick’s long coaching history.
He benched Mac Jones in the third quarter. He watched first-round pick Christian Gonzalez, who has been outstanding, go down with a shoulder injury. He watched star linebacker Matthew Judon go down with a biceps tear.
Thus, not only was Week 4 a disaster, but the rest of the season now is not shaping up so great, either. While some around New England and the league have questioned the free pass Belichick seems to get from the organization, that might be changing.
Even venerable NFL columnist Peter King is wondering how long Patriots owner Robert Kraft will put up with the team’s lack of progress. Yes, Jones was awful on Sunday, but Belichick has been responsible for both adding and coaching the players.
“This is looking very much like the fourth straight year since Tom Brady walked that New England won’t win a playoff game, and the way Robert Kraft thinks, the head coach and draft czar has to be responsible for that,” King wrote this weekend.
Has the NFL Passed Bill Belichick By?
As for Belichick, he is, as always, dodging big-picture questions and keeping it in the moment.
“I’m just really concerned about continuing to do the best job I can for our team and I’ll do that every week,” Belichick said on the Greg Hill Show on WEEI in Boston Monday morning. “That’s what I can control, that’s what I’m gonna do. That’s what I’m going to focus on.”
“Keep working hard and keep fighting”
Bill Belichick talks about the Patriots blowout loss to Dallas and how the team can bounce back
Around the league, though, the question of Belichick’s status as a great NFL mind is getting pretty harsh scrutiny. He has built a defensive team in a high-scoring era, and the results have been woeful.
At CBS, a column on Monday declared, “The NFL’s offensive game has passed Bill Belichick by.”
That may be harsh, but the Patriots have been to one playoff game since the departure of Tom Brady, and if the team was supposed to rebuild after Brady left, the rebuilding appears to be going backward.
As CBS’s Jeff Kerr noted:
“The Patriots didn’t even belong on the same field as the Dallas Cowboys in their 38-3 blowout loss, the largest loss of Belichick’s career. This is the third straight season the Patriots have started 1-3 and the offense isn’t any better than it was last year.
“New England has 55 points through four games, the lowest since 2000 for the franchise (Belichick’s first year). The Patriots went scoreless on their final 10 drives of the game.”
Belichick Passes the Buck
Back to Belichick—he was asked on Monday why the Patriots have not been able to show any results as they’ve been rebuilding and retooling the roster. He pointed to mistakes in execution, a nifty way of taking any blame himself.
“We just weren’t able to play well enough,” Belichick said. “We played three games, we turned the ball over and lost. One game, we didn’t turn the ball over and didn’t get sacked and won. I think we know what the formula is, we just gotta do a better job of it.
He did say there were areas that could be improved, though, and all he can do is try to guide the Patriots to that improvement.
“Defensively, and the kicking game, there are things there, too, we need to improve on,” Belichick said. “Didn’t really have a good day in the kicking game. Defensively, there are things we can do better there, too. What we can do is keep working hard, keep fighting. And improve in the areas we need to improve in, and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”