Not since Michael Jordan announced his return to the NBA from a two-year retirement with just two words – “I’m back” – has a press release in professional sports changed so much by saying seemingly so very little.
Thursday night Jan. 12, 2023 at 6:54 p.m. – aka last night, but we’re giving it the technically-descriptive import that it deserves -- the New England Patriots issued a press release with just two sentences totaling a mere 39 words.
But if a picture is worth a thousand words this press release was worth a million, as two-plus decades of one cloak-and-dagger way of doing business was wiped out by a single email mass distribution message.
“The New England Patriots and Head Coach Bill Belichick have begun contract extension discussions with Jerod Mayo that would keep him with the team long-term. In addition, the team will begin interviewing for offensive coordinator candidates beginning next week.”
Whelp, there you have it, the Patriot way of doing business under Belichick’s watch is indeed dead and buried, taken behind the shed Old Yeller style thanks to a second playoff-free, losing season in the last three years and a four-year drought without a playoff win. Mediocrity where greatness is expected has its consequences, apparently.
Belichick’s dictatorial run overseeing the dynasty in New England is, in practical terms, over. Sure, the soon-to-be 71-year-old coach, GM and all-hats-wearing boss remains atop the organizational power structure, but he obviously doesn’t reside there with nearly the same power or autonomy he once did.
Let’s be clear, Thursday’s night’s press release is a clear indication that it’s no longer business as usual at Gillette Stadium. On some level, the collaborative approach that entered the drafting discussion two years ago has now spread to the communications department and overall direction of the franchise.
As the former all-powerful man himself might put it – it is what it is.
Don’t worry, the nine Super Bowl trips and six Lombardi Trophies remain lasting memories of what life in New England used to be. As will the soundbites from Belichick’s press conferences back in the old days, back when the coach who provided so many wins offered up so little information regarding his team, his plans, his approach and just about anything else passionate Patriots fans might want to hear about.
Winning cured all and answered all back then.
But as we learned with Thursday’s press release, these are not your father’s Patriots. They are no longer Belichick’s Patriots to run unilaterally anymore, either.
We knew this time was coming sooner or later. We wondered how it might come about. Could and would Belichick be a party to a new way of doing things, a far less Frank Sinatra-esque approach?
We now, apparently, have our answer. Just a couple days after Belichick reaffirmed in his end-of-season Zoom that he indeed planned to return for a 24th year in New England, it’s become blatantly obvious that it isn’t with the same do-as-I-please yolk that he once had.
The on-field results of Belichick’s spring and summertime decision to replace departing longtime respected and productive offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels with failed former Lions head coach and career-long defensive mentee Matt Patricia as New England’s offensive play-caller were obvious. Mac Jones struggled, regressed and was left little more than a frustrated mess. The overall offense took a major step backwards, arguably and statistically the worst unit New England has fielded in more than two decades.
The losses piled up as did the social media posts from the likes of ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky and endless others mocking the Patriots’ approach.
But the results of the Patricia decision and to a lesser degree the installment of an ill-prepared Joe Judge as quarterbacks coach did more than undercut an offense and derail a season. It was seemingly the impetus for organizational change in New England, where Belichick had untethered control of all things football since the day he took the job in 2000. It was a helluva 23-year run, even if it’s petered out just a bit in the three years post-Tom Brady.
But it is over. That we now know. As we now know that a team that never talks about contracts, sent out a press release to announce it was negotiating a contract with Mayo as the impressive young coach hit the offseason with career advancement opportunities on the horizon. We also now know that a team that wouldn’t even acknowledge who was actually calling or communicating offensive plays during meaningless preseason games is suddenly telling us it will being doing the necessary and obvious by interviewing offensive coordinator candidates.
Oh, so titles like “offensive coordinator” might actually be a thing again under Belichick, who’s so often dismissed the need for assistant coach titles over the years?
Belichick and the Patriots didn’t exactly make an MJ announcement Thursday evening. This wasn’t quite the future Hall of Famer, GOAT, all-time-wins-record-chasing coach saying “I’m gone.” But clearly the way he’s done business for more than two decades, mostly quite successfully we should add, that way of doing business is over in New England.
If you are one of those Patriots fans who wanted significant change this offseason. You got it.
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