1 – Julian Edelman recently shared some old Bill Belichick comments to his team that shed some light on how the future Hall of Fame coach apparently views his current lot in life.
Edelman revealed that back in the glory days of dynasty success in New England Belichick would apparently tell his team that a day would come that the media would change on the coach and turn on his hooded greatness.
The implication, obviously, is that that day has come. Certainly there is a lot of media and fan speculation regarding Belichick’s future and job security with the Patriots. Many have indeed called for Belichick to lose his job.
And based on Edelman’s interesting comments, Belichick might even feel that the media has turned on him.
Simply put, that’s a ridiculous assertion. The only thing that’s turned on Belichick is the scoreboard and the results in this results-based business that is the NFL.
It’s not personal, it’s just the business of football.
Win a lot and you’re great. Lose a lot and you’re not.
It should have been simply business, not personal, when fans and media alike fawned all over Belichick when he as annually leading his team to division titles, Super Bowls and Lombardi Trophies. He was rightfully, based on the results, anointed the best coach in football, maybe in all of sports and maybe even of all time.
Now, after three losing seasons in four years and a bottomed-out 2023 campaign in which his Patriots have won just three games while recording some of the worst losses of his career and the franchise’s history, the 71-year-old Belichick is rightfully being criticized. His roster building and his coaching have put Robert Kraft’s Patriots in the position in which they currently reside.
It’s not personal, it’s just the business of football.
No one has turned on Belichick.
None of the criticism surrounding him nor his football team is anything other than objective and warranted.
As a once-wise, once-successful man used to love to say, it is what it is.
2 – While Belichick seems at times to be struggling to deal with the kind of losing he’s not used to, at least one key member of the Patriots organization has faced ugly reality with incredible professionalism. Longtime team captain and center David Andrews has generally been the first person to the postgame press conference room as 11 losses piled up in this lost season. He’s had to answer tough questions about his line, his offense, his quarterback, his coach and oh so much more. He’s respectfully done the best he could in a tough spot. As such, Andrews was recognized by the local New England media this week with the Ron Hobson Media Good Guy Award.
“It's not always easy, getting up to talk to y'all,” Andrews said of his twice-weekly press conferences for a three-win team. “I appreciate -- you guys have a job and think at the end of the day, we both try to do our jobs. I can appreciate what the media does, because obviously, you are a gateway to our fans. And I think it's just important do to this, because you're not only representing yourself but you're representing the organization, the team, and hopefully the fan base. So I really appreciate it."
3 – In what is probably a rarity these days, Belichick agreed with the media in terms of the kind of leadership that Andrews has shown this season, both on the field where he’s been the only Patriots player to play every single snap and in terms of his off-field duties.
“Fantastic. Fantastic. He's been, I mean, it’s been as good as I've seen, honestly,” Belichick said of Andrews’ leadership. “Every day, his performance on a daily basis is really exceptional. Attitude, effort, communication, energy, leadership of the younger players, leadership of his peers, communication, you name it. Look, like everybody who plays a lot of football, you get banged up, you're going to deal with some stuff during the year. He's shown a lot of physical toughness to play through that, a lot of mental toughness. He would never come out of practice for a play. We have to take him out to help manage some of the bumps and bruises that he has. But, this guy is a warrior.”
4 – While the matchups aren’t getting the attention they might normally garner thanks to the Patriots’ struggles, New England is in stretch of games that includes some of the best head-to-head coaching battles that the 2023 NFL could offer. Heading to Denver Sunday night to take on Sean Payton’s Broncos, this marks the third straight game against a Super Bowl-winning opposing head coach. Over the last month against Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin (one Super Bowl ring), Kansas City’s Andy Reid (two rings) and now Payton (one ring), Bill Belichick (six rings) has been part of some pretty super coaching comparisons. It’s possible all four of the coaches involved in the Patriots’ last three games could end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame when all is said and done.
5 – While that’s an historically positive note, New England’s offense is currently on pace to make some history that’s far less exciting. The Patriots are currently one of two teams this season (Packers) that’s yet to have a player notch a 100-yard game as either a rusher or a receiver. If New England (or Green Bay) doesn’t record a 100-yard game in the final three weeks it would be the first time a team has failed to accomplish the feat in an NFL season with 16 or more games played. The last time a team went without a 100-yard game in a full season was in Washington in the 14-game schedule in 1977. For what it’s worth, the Patriots’ best rushing game this season was Rhamondre Stevenson’s 98-yards against the Giants, while New England’s best receiving total was JuJu Smith-Schuster’s 90 yards against the Steelers.
6 – The Patriots will be without two of their most reliable, consistent, impactful players when they take the field Christmas Eve in Denver. Safety Jabrill Peppers was ruled out of the game on Friday due to a hamstring injury that kept him out of practice all week. Tight end Hunter Henry was downgraded to out on Saturday when he did not travel with the team due to a knee injury. Peppers has been literally and figuratively an impact defender for New England all season, a tone-setter on defense with his physical style and energy. Henry had three touchdowns the last two games working with Bailey Zappe and leads New England in both scores (6) and receptions (42) on the season. A road game on a Christmas Eve is a challenge for any team, certainly one that’s essentially playing out the string on a three-win season. It will be interesting to see how the Patriots react without Peppers and Henry, both in terms of filling their on-field production but maybe more importantly in regards to their consistent effort regardless of the score or situation.
7 – Prediction Time!: The Broncos (7-7) are an interesting football team in Payton’s first season. They gave up 70 points to the Dolphins early in the season. Their five-game winning streak against the Packers, Chiefs, Bills, Vikings and Browns is pretty darn impressive. But their stats say they aren’t all that good on offense or defense, although Russell Wilson is having an impressive bounce-back year. And Denver has decent talent littered about its depth chart on both sides of the ball. The Broncos are at home and still in the playoff hunt, plenty to play for this holiday night. The Patriots (3-11), well, not so much. Zappe is still trying to figure out how to play 60 minutes of productive football. He’s also working to avoid putting the ball in harm’s way, as he’s done more than the stats might reveal over the last couple weeks. Cull it all together and the Broncos are the better team with the better record and more to play for. New England is more banged up by the week and its professionalism will be challenged in this one as much as all year as human nature could have guys thinking about getting on a plane and getting home to their families for Christmas morning. We’ll go with a 24-10 win for the Broncos, but we won’t rule out a more lopsided affair that could include an ugly second half under the Christmas Eve circumstances.
Thank you to MacFarlane Energy, a Mitsubishi Diamond Elite contractor, and the home heating oil and HVAC company that greater Boston and Cape Cod depend on at MacFarlaneEnergy.com.