Patriots owner Robert Kraft has had a lot to say this offseason, and understandably so.
There was the press conference after mutually parting ways amicably – yes, that’s how it was framed – with GOAT coach Bill Belichick after a two-plus decade dynastic run.
“Thundercat” soon after sat behind the mic at Gillette Stadium when he introduced Jerod Mayo as the new HC of the NEP, his new-age Why?-guy set to connect with his team that’s counterintuitively growing younger by the day.
Of course there were the 10 episodes of “The Dynasty” on Apple TV in which Kraft said, well, maybe a bit too much.
Then last week the patriarch of Patriot Nation stepped in front of reporters for what is essentially his annual offseason state of the team at the NFL Owners meetings in Orlando. It’s a March tradition unlike any other with requisite birds chirping the background and, in recent years, the billionaire Kraft wearing his always-within-reach common fan hat to point out the plentiful problems with what is still very much his football team.
There was oh-so-much to ponder with Kraft’s latest comments and, if we’re gonna be honest, plenty to disagree with the octogenarian organizational ombudsmen on.
That whole “make the playoffs” expectations this coming fall? Yeah, sorry Mr. Kraft, that ain’t happening! Not with a new coach, coaching staff, GM, quarterback and significant roster turnover. It would be historic. Unprecedented even. Too much to ask in one year. A bridge year way too far.
But that wasn’t even the most off-base thing that Kraft said in Orlando. Nope, that came with a handful of thrown-in, throwaway words at the end of a long comment about his hopes for the team.
It almost got lost in the shuffle if you weren’t paying attention.
“Xs and Os are where it’s at,” Kraft said simply.
He didn’t bat an eye saying it. Nor did the reporters gathered around him gasp in confusion.
Yet, make no mistake, if Kraft truly believes that Xs and Os are where it’s at in 2024, then the Patriots may be in even more trouble than any of us previously believed.
First of all, he made this comment just a couple months after parting ways with arguably the greatest Xs and Os coach the NFL or any level of football has ever seen. For all his many faults and the possibility that his age caught up to him, Belichick could still inarguably draw up a game plan or coach up almost any player on the technical aspects of doing his job. Belichick wasn’t given his pink stripes pink slip based on Xs and Os, it was everything else in the job that seemingly went sideways.
By extension, if Xs and Os matter so much, how did the Patriots land on a new head coach, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator who’ve never called plays before or really been the architects in any way of their own scheme? If it’s about Xs and Os, then Mayo, Alex Van Pelt and DeMarcus Covington have a LOT of catching up to do in order to pull even with most of their contemporaries, forget about what Belichick brought to the sideline.
Lastly is the biggest argument against Xs and Os being where it’s at in the NFL. If it ever was even the case, the argument is strong that talent trumps scheme now more than ever. Football is more and more becoming about having the best players and athletes – Jimmys and Joes – than Xs and Os.
Sean McVay’s scheme in LA only got him so far, before Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp had to lift him to Lombardi-winning status.
Patrick Mahomes, like Tom Brady before him, proves annually that his talent can overcome pretty much any deficit around him.
Josh Allen was so hindered by the poor offensive Xs and Os in Buffalo last season, the ones that got coordinator Ken Dorsey fired midseason, that the franchise quarterback still took his team to an AFC East title.
There is no question that Xs and Os matter in football more than any other sport, but they matter much less these days than they used to.
The NFL is now, more than ever, a league driven by talent, something that Kraft also thankfully acknowledged last week.
“You can’t win in this league consistently unless you have a first rate quarterback…” Kraft said.
Now that’s a fact and THAT is where it’s actually at these days in the NFL.
“One way or another I’d like to see us get a top rate young quarterback,” Kraft added.
THAT is actually something we call all agree. Maybe we can leave the Xs and Os to a game where they still actually are the difference between winning and losing, like say Tic-Tac-Toe.