Patriots are arguably the worst team in the NFL and Bill Belichick has no answers anymore

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – Bill Belichick was ready. He had been asked 22 questions in four minutes and he mumbled his way through them with short answers about how everyone on his struggling team had been told to be ready to play. That’s all he wanted. So he gently put his right hand down like a hammer, abruptly ending his post-match press conference.

Bill Belichick Live Post-Game Press Conference:

— New England Patriots (@Patriots) November 26, 2023

The 71-year-old coach exited a tunnel and turned right past the MetLife Stadium football field, where his New England Patriots had just lost 10-7 to a backup, undrafted rookie quarterback and a New York Giants team that had done so. was among the worst in the NFL.

After three months of a dysfunctional season, there’s no point in ignoring the obvious. After nine losses in 11 games and with a quarterback situation turning this once-proud franchise into a laughing stock, Belichick no longer has an answer. The tricks and stunts he performed didn’t work. His team has not responded. His grill stinks. And his explanations for how things got so bad are even worse.

“I told everyone to be ready to go,” Belichick said four times.

Of course, all of this leads to the uncomfortable question that will linger over the final six games of this season. Will Belichick return? Are these the final games of a brilliant career, ending with an implosion that once seemed unfathomable?

What question could be more important than the one after looking at the product presented by Belichick’s team on Sunday? He tried something different this week, attempting to spark a weak offense that is dragging this team down. Belichick concluded not to name a rookie quarterback. He let Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe get practice reps at the starting offense, hoping one of them would be good enough that a decision would be made for him.

Instead, it was another Belichick decision (or indecision?) that backfired for this team. Belichick is the same coach who explained in 2001 that Tom Brady was getting practice reps over Drew Bledsoe by saying a team can’t split those sessions with multiple quarterbacks because they’re too valuable – that’s missing each snaps hinder the starting QB’s preparation.

But twelve weeks into this season, Belichick split practice reps between Jones and Zappe. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that both had a hard time.

The argument here is not for Jones or Zappe. In fact, there is plenty of evidence that both are bad.

But instead of letting them compete for the starting job this late in the season, it’s the coach’s job to make a decision and do everything he can to that quarterback finished.

If you want to play Jones, try to build his confidence. Support him publicly. Do what you can to keep him from having to make difficult decisions. See if running the ball works.

Otherwise, switch to Zappe. It would be easy to say that Jones is beyond repair at this point. Go to Zappe. Spend a week getting him ready to play. Come up with a simple, straightforward offense that he can master.

😶 pic.twitter.com/W6oVnXLoc8

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) November 26, 2023

Instead, Belichick opted for an inexplicable midseason competition that brought out the worst in both quarterbacks. They made nearly identical interceptions in double (or was it triple?) coverage.

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The Patriots midweek quarterback competition isn’t what this team needs

The move is likely to have caused irreversible damage to Jones, who was benched for the fourth time in 11 games this season. He seems completely broken and needs a fresh start somewhere else. So the Patriots should probably turn to Zappe even though his summer was so bad that the Patriots cut him before Week 1. The sophomore has performed so poorly this season that he couldn’t even beat out Jones for the starting job. Sunday.

It all added up to making this a lost season. It doesn’t matter what the rest of the team does because the offense is that bad. The Patriots scored three touchdowns and only 30 points in all of November.

“Just bad quarterback play,” Jones said Sunday, summing things up aptly. “If the quarterback doesn’t play well, you don’t have a chance.”

That was – and will continue to be – the case with the Patriots in 2023.

Even if owner Robert Kraft hasn’t said anything publicly about the job security of the only head coach he’s had for the past 24 years, anyone who follows the team knows Belichick’s seat is plenty warm. Kraft expected this season to end with a playoff berth.

Instead, his franchise has become a mockery. JuJu Smith-Schuster yelled at coach Troy Brown on the sideline on Sunday. As punishment for missing curfew, players are left home for road games (JC Jackson) or cut altogether (Jack Jones). The Patriots have won two games this season and none since Oct. 22. Their offense is tough to watch – and was just massively outplayed by a Giants unit led by Tommy DeVito. No one knows who the starter is in the most important decision in sports. And they are approaching a stretch of three straight primetime games in which the nation will be forced to look at what has become of Belichick’s team.

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Patriots may not fire Bill Belichick now, but after the season all bets are off

This season it is no longer about making the play-offs. That dream died a long time ago. These last few games are a chance for Belichick to show why he should remain responsible for making all football-related decisions for the Patriots. It can’t just be about resting on his six Super Bowl rings — not when the Patriots have become a laughing stock.

But the results so far are downright embarrassing. The Patriots failed to score a touchdown in Germany and lost to Gardner Minshew and the Indianapolis Colts. They had two weeks to solve everything. Instead, they created a pointless quarterback competition that produced poor play for both of them. Every pass a quarterback throws downfield feels like an attempt to hold your breath and pray it’s not an interception attempt.

Now, after a loss to the pitiful Giants that dropped them to 2-9, the Patriots find themselves in a place they haven’t been in in decades. They might be the worst team in the NFL. And the evidence is mounting that Belichick no longer has the answers to solve the problem.

GO DEEPER

Buckley: Patriots put Mac Jones in a position to take the blame, but not to succeed

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