Matt Patricia was often blamed for the Patriots’ offensive woes last season. But inside Gillette Stadium, Joe Judge was facing the harshest criticism.
The Boston Herald’s Andrew Callahan and Karen Guregian wrote an extensive expose detailing the Patriots’ disorder last year, “Inside the most dysfunctional Patriots season under Bill Belichick.” The piece, which went online Thursday, features damning quotes from “several sources inside and around the organization.” All sources were granted anonymity so they could speak freely.
unraveling the big patriots' hit piece
Nobody is spared: one source simply says Bill Belichick “f—“ the team. Patricia is also ripped for his conservative play calling, and failure to streamline the Patriots’ offense.
Judge, meanwhile, is blasted for his all-around performance. At the start of training camp, he would often run meetings and share the play-call sheet with Belichick and Patricia. But around early October, Judge started to recede from the picture — right when Mac Jones suffered his high ankle sprain.
“Mac didn’t like him,” said one source. “At all.”
A source says Judge drew the ire of other assistants for coaching across positions in practice, and teaching players the wrong technique. “I think there were times the coaches were frustrated, especially the ones who had been on staff in years past and knew what we had done,” added another.
Belichick was apparently one of those coaches who grew frustrated with Judge. The story says Belichick would “blast” Judge in practice.
Judge and Jones would also yell and swear at each other, according to a source.
“[Judge] would speak extra loudly in meetings, trying to project like he was the guy,” said one source.
Those revelations aren’t surprising. Judge’s head coaching tenure with the Giants was a disaster. He went 10-23 in two seasons, and lost his last four games by a collective score of 106-26.
Judge’s final act in New York was a bizarre press conference rant, in which he lied about and insulted his predecessors.
There's no telling what his final act would be in New England. Maybe it's already happened.
It doesn’t seem like many people in Foxborough would miss him.