{"id":8358,"date":"2023-11-29T06:39:03","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T11:39:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/sport\/patriots-may-be-the-worst-team-in-the-nfl-and-bill-belichick-may-no-longer-have-the-answers\/29\/11\/2023\/"},"modified":"2023-11-29T06:39:03","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T11:39:03","slug":"patriots-may-be-the-worst-team-in-the-nfl-and-bill-belichick-may-no-longer-have-the-answers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/sport\/patriots-may-be-the-worst-team-in-the-nfl-and-bill-belichick-may-no-longer-have-the-answers\/29\/11\/2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots may be the worst team in the NFL and Bill Belichick may no longer have the answers"},"content":{"rendered":"

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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. \u2014 Bill Belichick was done. He had been asked 22 questions over four minutes and muttered his way through them with brief answers about how everyone on his struggling team had been told to be ready to play. He didn\u2019t want any more. So he softly put his right hand down like a gavel, abruptly ending his postgame news conference.<\/p>\n

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Bill Belichick Live Postgame Press Conference: https:\/\/t.co\/gpm9zzq8YC<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 New England Patriots (@Patriots) November 26, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The 71-year-old coach exited down a tunnel and took a right turn past the football field at MetLife Stadium, where his New England Patriots<\/a> had just lost 10-7<\/a> to a backup, undrafted rookie quarterback and a New York Giants<\/a> team that had been among the NFL<\/a>\u2019s worst.<\/p>\n

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GO DEEPER<\/p>\n

Patriots bench Jones for Zappe, lose to Giants<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Three months into a dysfunctional season, there\u2019s no sense in ignoring the obvious. After nine losses in 11 games and with a quarterback situation that is turning this once-proud franchise into a laughingstock, Belichick is out of answers. The tricks and stunts he has pulled haven\u2019t worked. His team hasn\u2019t responded. His roster stinks. And his explanations for how it got this bad are even worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told everybody to be ready to go,\u201d Belichick said four different times.<\/p>\n

All of this, of course, leads to the uncomfortable question that\u2019s going to hover over the final six games this season. Is Belichick going to be back? Are these the final games of a brilliant career, one that\u2019s ending with an implosion that once seemed unfathomable?<\/p>\n

What question could be more important than that after watching the product put forth by Belichick\u2019s team Sunday? He tried something different this week, an attempt to jump-start a feeble offense that\u2019s dragging this team down. Belichick decided not<\/em> to name a starting quarterback. He let Mac Jones<\/a> and Bailey Zappe<\/a> get practice reps with the starting offense, hoping one of them would be so good that a decision would be made for him.<\/p>\n

Instead, it was yet another Belichick decision (or indecision?) that backfired for this team. Belichick is the same coach who in 2001 explained Tom Brady<\/a> getting practice reps over Drew Bledsoe by saying that a team can\u2019t split up those sessions with multiple quarterbacks because they\u2019re too valuable \u2014 that missing any<\/em> snaps hinders the starting QB\u2019s preparation.<\/p>\n

But 12 weeks into this season, Belichick split the practice reps between Jones and Zappe. Perhaps it should be no surprise, then, that both struggled.<\/p>\n

The argument here isn\u2019t for one of Jones or Zappe. In fact, there\u2019s plenty of evidence to suggest both are bad.<\/p>\n

But rather than have them compete for the starting job this late in the season, it\u2019s the coach\u2019s job to make a decision and do everything to get that quarterback<\/em> ready.<\/p>\n

If you want to play Jones, try to build up his confidence. Back him publicly. Do what you can to make sure he doesn\u2019t have tough decisions to make. See if running the ball works.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, make the switch to Zappe. It would be easy to say Jones is unfixable at this point. Go to Zappe. Spend a week getting him ready to play. Scheme up a simple, unsophisticated offense he can master.<\/p>\n

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\ud83d\ude36 pic.twitter.com\/W6oVnXLoc8<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) November 26, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Instead, Belichick chose an inexplicable midseason competition that brought out the worst in both quarterbacks. They made almost identical interceptions into double (or was it triple?) coverage.<\/p>\n

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\"go-deeper\"\/<\/div>\n
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GO DEEPER<\/p>\n

Patriots’ midweek quarterback competition isn’t what this team needs<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The move probably did irreversible damage to Jones, who was benched for the fourth time in 11 games this season. He seems completely broken and in need of a fresh start somewhere else. So the Patriots probably have to turn to Zappe, even though his summer was so bad that the Patriots cut him before Week 1. The second-year man has performed so poorly this season that he couldn\u2019t even beat out Jones for the starting job Sunday.<\/p>\n

It has all combined to make this a lost season. It doesn\u2019t matter what the rest of the team does because the offense is so bad. The Patriots scored three touchdowns and just 30 points in all of November.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust bad quarterback play,\u201d Jones said Sunday, summing things up aptly. \u201cIf the quarterback doesn\u2019t play well, you\u2019ve got no chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such has been \u2014 and will continue to be \u2014 the case with the Patriots in 2023.<\/p>\n

Even if owner Robert Kraft hasn\u2019t said anything publicly about the job security of the only head coach he has employed for the last 24 years, anyone following the team knows that Belichick\u2019s seat is plenty warm. Kraft expected this season to end with a playoff berth.<\/p>\n

Instead, his franchise has become a mockery. JuJu Smith-Schuster<\/a> was yelling at coach Troy Brown<\/a> on the sideline Sunday. As punishment for missing curfew, players are being left at home for road games (J.C. Jackson<\/a>) or cut outright (Jack Jones)<\/a>. The Patriots have won two games this season and none since Oct. 22. Their offense is hard to watch \u2014 and was just vastly outplayed by a Giants unit led by Tommy DeVito<\/a>. No one knows who the starter is at the sport\u2019s most important decision. And they\u2019re nearing a stretch of three straight prime-time games in which the nation will be forced to sit and watch what has become of Belichick\u2019s team.<\/p>\n

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\"go-deeper\"\/<\/div>\n
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GO DEEPER<\/p>\n

Patriots shouldn’t fire Bill Belichick now, but after the season, all bets are off<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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This season is no longer about making the playoffs. That dream died a long time ago. These final few games are a chance for Belichick to show why he should remain in charge of making all football-related decisions for the Patriots. It can\u2019t just be about resting on his six Super Bowl rings \u2014 not when the Patriots have become a laughingstock.<\/p>\n

But the results so far have been downright embarrassing. The Patriots failed to score a touchdown in Germany and lost to Gardner Minshew<\/a> and the Indianapolis Colts<\/a>. They had two weeks to fix things. Instead, they concocted a meaningless quarterback competition that yielded poor play from both. Any pass either quarterback throws downfield feels like a hold-your-breath, pray-it\u2019s-not-an-interception attempt.<\/p>\n

Now, after a loss to the pitiful Giants that drops them to 2-9, the Patriots are in a place they haven\u2019t been in decades. They might be the worst team in the NFL. And the evidence is piling up that Belichick no longer has the answers to fix it.<\/p>\n

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\"go-deeper\"\/<\/div>\n
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GO DEEPER<\/p>\n

Buckley: Patriots put Mac Jones in position to take the blame but not to succeed<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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(Photo: Elsa \/ Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe Football 100,\u201d the definitive ranking of the NFL\u2019s best 100 players of all time, is on sale now. Order it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n