Any port in a storm?
Necessity is the mother of invention?
There’s more than one way to skin a cat?
If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball?
Trying to come up with a cliché to defend and support Joe Judge’s path back to the Patriots isn’t easy. (Clichés can be somewhat comforting in a time of stress after all!)
You see the Patriots officially announced Judge’s return to Bill Belichick’s coaching staff on Tuesday.
Fired after two predictably dismal seasons as Giants’ head coach, Judge returns to New England where he previously spent eight years as a developing and rather productive assistant.
Given that Belichick just recently lost longtime trusted underling Josh McDaniels to the Raiders’ head coaching job, Judge’s return should be seen as nothing but a boon.
That’s especially true given that Judge built his coaching career on special teams, an area where the Patriots were putrid last season, allowing three blocked punts while getting flagged for seemingly endless and at times game-changing penalties.
All’s good! Welcome back, Joe!
Right?
Not so fast. You also see, Judge returns to New England, according to the Patriots press release announcing his rehire, as an offensive assistant.
Offense, you say? For a guy whose only coaching career experience outside the kicking game came in his final prior season in New England in 2019 when he added the title of wide receivers coach to his special teams work mostly out of necessity when Chad O’Shea bolted Belichick’s staff to become Brian Flores’ offensive coordinator with the Dolphins?
No. Of course not. That would be crazy. He also obviously oversaw the offense for his Giants over the last two seasons in New York, a unit that was literally the worst in the NFL in that time span in many statistical categories. And his tenure with Big Blue may (unfortunately for him) be most remembered for Judge deciding to run a QB sneak on third-and-9 from his own 4-yard line in a loss to Washington in what may end up the final game of his head-coaching career.
It was a clown play-call just days after Judge publicly took a not-so-veiled shot at the rival then-Football Team by saying his Giants were not a “clown-show organization.”
But all that – Judge’s significant successful experience on special teams and limited work on offense, some of which was truly offensive to football fans in New York – is in the past.
What matters now is Judge’s future in Foxborough trying to help Belichick work through yet another offseason of comings and goings on his coaching staff.
Actually what matters most now is Mac Jones.
New England’s young franchise passer is coming off a Pro Bowl rookie season in which he led his team to the playoffs. In NFL circles, that’s a great start to a career, but it all came under McDaniels’ capable, experienced molding and mentoring.
Now, with Jones’ critical second season on the horizon, his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach is living the high-roller life in Las Vegas.
And Judge is the only hire, to date, on the Patriots’ retooled offensive coaching staff.
That’s a scary, scary thought. Coordinators and play-callers can make careers for NFL QBs, especially young ones. They can break them as well.
Maybe, just maybe, perfect-fit offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien is still in the plans, potentially leaping from Alabama back to the NFL in New England where he had so much success working with Tom Brady and Co. back from 2007-11. You know, a guy who’s spent every year of his coaching career dating back to college coaching offense or even calling plays. A guy who’s far surpassed the 10,000 hours required to become an expert offensive coach and play-caller.
Not Judge, though. Not Belichick’s big (to date) offseason addition to his offensive (remember, that word has multiple meanings!) coaching staff. Nope.
In the best interest of his football team – he hasn’t said that yet, but it’s safe to assume that was his approach – Belichick has hired a special teams coach to at the very least be a contributing voice on offense at a crossroads point in the development of his potential-filled young QB and his unit.
It feels like a curious, questionable move at best, and a horrific one at worst.
But, it’s early. It’s still February. Jones is still basking in the spotlight and enjoying extra spoonfuls of offseason ice cream.
Even the earliest actual work toward 2022 is still weeks away.
Does adding Judge to the Patriots offensive coaching staff feel like a great move?
Does the idea of Judge having a role in Jones’ development breed confidence?
Could Judge really be a candidate to fill the massive void created by McDaniels’ departure and call plays for the New England offense in 2022?
The answer to all these questions is or at least should be a resounding no!
But, we’re trying to reserve judgement on Judge’s return at this very early point in the offseason process.
For now, as so many lowly, rebuilding teams in all sports seem to proclaim in tough times, all we’re left to do is trust the process. Whether we visionless outsiders understand that process or not.
