Patriots Coming Off Their Bye

By: Steve Atkinson

The Patriots will have a rematch with the New York Jets Sunday coming off their bye week. The Patriots are currently in last place in the AFC East at 5-4 but hold the last playoff spot in the AFC. I don’t think they will make the playoffs and will finish the season 9-8. I think they beat the Jets Sunday but then will probably lose two in a row to the Vikings on Thanksgiving and then lose to the Bills at home a week from Thanksgiving. The Patriots aren’t a good consistent team and have a weak offense thanks to Bill Belichick putting Matt Patricia and Joe Judge on the offensive staff.

Coming off the bye week the Patriots haven’t been good for quite some time now. They were really bad in 2020. Then last year they collapsed against the Colts, and I don’t see things getting any better this year. The offense can’t move the ball, the timing is off between the quarterback and the receivers, and the offensive line is wretched. Their best players on offense are Jakobi Meyers, Stevenson, and Nick Folk. Matt Patricia and Joe Judge have regressed Mac Jones from a year ago running a totally different offense than what was done last year.

Both offenses were bad in the Colts game two weeks ago. The Patriot’s defense was key in that win and the win over the Jets the first time. It will be key this time too. I expect Matt Judon to be the best player on the defense on Sunday. I also expect Zach Wilson to throw interceptions because he loves to throw it up there. I don’t think we will see improvement in the Patriots offense because I don’t think they are on the same page. Again, that falls on the coaching not having them prepared.

Patriots fans you’re gonna wanna watch this—and listen to this. #nfllive@pats pic.twitter.com/dsutycJC4W

— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) November 16, 2022

One thing is for certain is the Kraft’s are watching what is going on. They see the regression in Mac Jones due to the coaching staff. Regardless of what Zappe did against two bad awful teams he wasn’t good in the second half of the Bears game. Nobody seems to want to bring that up. If this keeps going the way, it’s going, and the Patriots miss the playoffs I think Kraft goes to Belichick to tell him to hire a real offensive coordinator. Whether that’s Bill O’Brien who’s not doing so well in Alabama or someone with an offensive background. Because it’s obvious that it’s not working with Patricia and Judge. Here is a quote from Jones on the timing of the offense from Wednesday’s press conference

“Yeah, you can learn it. I think there’s drills that will help anybody that needs that. Obviously, every quarterback, you do have a timer in your head. So you want to make sure that your drop matches up with the play, your eyes, all that stuff. So that’s something that you’re constantly trying to work through. Obviously in different offenses that applies in different ways. But you always want to have your feet, kind of on that clock in your head matching up at the same time. Then from there, you kind of feel everything else. It’s second nature. Hard focused on the stuff downfield and a soft focus on the rush.”

He knows the timing is off and that falls on coaching. Even Devin McCourty when on the CBS Pregame show last Sunday and was asked a question about the Giants with Brain Daboll. He threw Joe Judge under the bus.

“He’s a players’ guy,” McCourty said of Daboll. “I actually saw Xavier McKinney, and he talked about having (Daboll) in the building — easygoing, fun time, different from when Judge was there. And I think all of the players are enjoying it, and they’re playing hard for (Daboll) right now.”

He did take those comments back the next day and said he was just comparing personalities.  No way what he said was correct Joe Judge ruined the Giants and Daniel Jones and now he is the cause of the regression of Mac Jones. Mostly everyone seems to see that but Bill, hopefully, opens his eyes in the second half of the season.