The Herald's Andrew Callahan and Karen Guregian report: Inside the Most Dysfunctional Patriots Season Under Bill Belichick
I believe there was a highly popular thread on this forum when the report first came out.
Excerpt from the Report:
Around early October, when Jones was sidelined by a high ankle sprain, players began to see less of his position coach in meetings.
Joe Judge, they later suspected, was in a long process of being phased out. It was a stark change from training camp when Judge would command meetings and share the play-call sheet in team periods with Patricia and Belichick. Judge also coached across positions in practice, forcing other assistants to occasionally correct his talking points to players during drills.
“I think there were times the coaches were frustrated, especially the ones who had been on staff in years past and knew what we had done,” one source said.
As Patricia came under outside fire as the face of the offense, Judge drew increasing criticism from within. Belichick would blast him in practice, and it wasn’t uncommon for Judge and Jones to trade profanity-laced outbursts. Jones’ trust in his position coach was effectively non-existent.
“Mac didn’t like him,” one source said. “At all.”
“(Judge) would speak extra loudly in meetings, trying to project like he was the guy,” another source said. “And I think that kind of rubbed people the wrong way.”
“A lot of people were frustrated with (Judge),” a third added.