By: Steve Atkinson
The New England Patriots will be starting over on offense. There’ll be no Josh McDaniels, Bill O’Brien, or Nick Caley running the offense. It will be former quarterback Alex Van Pelt. Van Pelt used to be the backup to Jim Kelly on the Buffalo Bills and has been around the league as a coordinator. Most recently with the Cleveland Browns who let him go because of his development Deshaun Watson. He seems to be a player and did pretty well with Joe Flacco this season. With the Patriots starting over at quarterback because of Belichick and this fan base that thinks Zappe who knows better than Mac has thrown Mac to the wolves so much as that a fresh start for him would be the best so he can stick it to Belichick.
Defacto General Manager Elliott Wolf seems to be running things when it comes to hiring coaches. Wolf worked with Van Pelt when they were both together on the Green Bay Packers. Van Pelt brings the West Coast style of offense and the Browns have run the 49er’s offense for the last three seasons under Van Pelt as OC. It looks like that will be the case as he is now the new offensive coordinator for the Patriots. Ben McAdoo could also be coming to serve as an advisor to Van Pelt. McAdoo also worked in Green Bay with Van Pelt and Wolf.
This is what the Patriots should’ve done three years ago before the 2021 NFL Draft. Move on from Belichick make Mayo the head coach and let the people in the front office do their jobs because their voices weren’t being heard under Belichick. It has been reported that Belichick undermined the scouting department and would just listen to his friends around the league when it came to drafting players. Here is Michael Lombardi Belichick’s friend talking on his podcast about taking N’Keal Harry over D.K. Metcalf.
The Patriots drafted Harry and scouts were pissed because the Patriots scouts knew Metcalf was the better player but Belichick listened to his buddy and drafted Harry instead. Harry was a bust and Metcalf was a stud. There’ll be no more of that dumbness when it comes to the draft and the lack of personnel on offense. Mayo is getting the people who know that side of the ball so he can give them the keys and say put a legit product on the field. Not the stuff we’ve been seeing since 2020.
I’m looking forward to what’s to come. I hope the new offensive coaching staff comes together and has the right players to succeed. I hope Mac Jones goes to a team that can revive his career and stick it to Belichick for treating him the way he did.