Bill Belichick and Patriots' "quality control" under scrutiny as New England look to salvage season vs Jets, claims insider
There was a time when Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots were untouchable. Over a period of two decades, they won six Super Bowls, went to nine editions and dominated the NFL landscape like no other team has. With Tom Brady as their quarterback, they swatted away all comers.
Their dominance in the AFC East was particularly striking. Over 19 seasons, they won their division 17 times, including 11 straight from 2009 to 2019. Yet, now they sit 0-2 in the 2023 NFL season and bottom of the very same group. Next up for the Patriots is a visit to the New York Jets, who sit above them with a 1-1 record.
The pressure is clearly building on Bill Belichick in trying to make them a winning team again without Tom Brady. NFL Insider Tom Curran went on 'The Rich Eisen Show' to talk about how hot the seat is getting.
He said that the main thing observers were looking at is an improvement from last season and that the head coach will be fine if that happens. He said,
"And Bill [Belichick] will keep on but when we talked about the hot seat and what the fallout would be, I said Bill will be fine if the quality of the product improves. If the quality control was better, if they're situationally smart, they're disciplined, they start well and they look like they have the arrow pointing up."
Tom Curran says Bill Belichick has the New England Patriots pointing in the right direction
Despite the 0-2 record this season, Tom Curran believes that the New England Patriots are trending upwards under Bill Belichick. He identifies the main problems as discipline and situation awareness, where they are struggling. He added,
"Regardless of record, I would say relative to last year, it looks like the arrow is pointing up. But they're still situationally not very intelligent and they're not disciplined... So quality control under Bill Belichick is certainly not what we've become accustomed to when it continues that way."
Such moral victories are what New England Patriots fans used to hate, so accustomed they had become to Bill Belichick and Tom Brady leading them to wins. But Mac Jones is yet to play at the same level as the GOAT, which is not a knock on him but an acknowledgement of facts. Previously, Cam Newton failed to meet the same standards either.
Even with cute special team plays and other coaching innovations, they keep falling short. Unless the head coach can turn that central problem around, the New England Patriots will continue to read water.