We're on to the OFF-Season

[lancerman]

The significant drop in red zone visits has a lot to do with the significant drop in third down efficiency.

A trend I noticed, that I don’t know if numbers will bare it out, was the offense would get in the redzone, be less aggressive, call some run that goes nowhere, maybe get a penalty and then be in 3rd and long pretty fast.

 

[lancerman]

Seriously, when has Patricia shown that he's especially useful at ANYTHING besides being a reasonably decent defensive coordinator before he pissed off giant chunks of the leagues playerbase.

Even on defense he was incredibly conservative even with elite talent. Flores was a million times better the minute he got the reigns. Steve and Mayo are doing a great job with less.

 

[jah]

Even a league-average offense would have put this team in the 11-12 win category. If we can maintain, more or less, on defense, and improve on offense just a bit, we're much better off. With this defense maintaining this play or close to it, we don't need to blow the doors off on offense with 600 points to win a lot of games.

I'm just hazarding a guess that moving on from Patricia will go at least part way to getting there. Putting a competent OC in there is probably good for 2-3 more wins.

Yup. When you consider the fact that much of the Patriots season was effectively played with half a team (less considering ST also underperformed), it's actually a massive testament to the defense that we came a few bad calls away from another wild card spot.

 

[ashley]

As a lot of coaches wait anxiously to see what their fate will be for next season, BB of course let's all the beat reporters know that without question, he will be back in 2023 to coach the Patriots in a way that only he can and show everyone who truly is in charge:

 

[ahmed]

Plenty of draft and cap resources to fix the offense plus not a lot of free agents.

Will lose my **** if we trade down in the first few rounds. Would rather trade up into top 10 for an impact T or WR.

 

[mgcolby]

Plenty of draft and cap resources to fix the offense plus not a lot of free agents.

Will lose my **** if we trade down in the first few rounds. Would rather trade up into top 10 for an impact T or WR.

I would have plenty of TP on standby....maybe a hose just in case....

 

[ashley]

Plenty of draft and cap resources to fix the offense plus not a lot of free agents.

Will lose my **** if we trade down in the first few rounds. Would rather trade up into top 10 for an impact T or WR.

Yeah, OT, CB or WR (although I think we might be able to trade for a wr) would be the way to go. Instead of accumulating assets, we're close enough to the top 10 to go after a stud/difference maker!!!

 

[SHOWTIME15]

 

[mgcolby]

Well admitting you have a problem is the first step...so hopefully this should be a positive.

 

[Sect140]

I’d love an OT. I can’t be the only fan who feels that way.

I want the first two picks to be OT.

 

[Sam Bam Cunningham]

He has to act fast. The best coaches go fast after new head coaches are hired. If Bill O'Brien is the guy as OC, he will likely be hired by someone by next week.

Does he ever act fast with regards to coaches?

 

[ahmed]

The stones on some of you begging to use 14 on a WR given our track record.

True lol and am one of them. Would rather move up for a T and trade for a WR but WRs have now become expensive cap and pick wise.

 

[The Brandon Five]

-Fire Cam Achford and hire a competent ST coach

That alone would improve the team dramatically

Replace Matt Patricia with an NFL OC and we can start making 19-0 jokes again.

 

[Rob0729]

Does he ever act fast with regards to coaches?

He usually hires from within. Unfortunately, that isn't an option. The only coach remotely qualified to run the offense is Nick Caley and he is likely to bolt to Las Vegas since he wanted to go there last year and the Patriots blocked him.

 

[ahmed]

8% of all American males, including myself, are red-green colorblind. Your color choices make your post undecipherable

5 hits, a few more TBDs and majority are crap.

A draft usually has 1 good QB and once in a while 2. Makes notion of top 5 QB lists every draft seem a giant waste of time.

 

[The Brandon Five]

With the 14th pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots select...a long-snapper...or maybe a punter?

 

[jdlboot14]

On to the positives!!
Parker was special, and showed he and Mac really have something together.
Meyers had a few highlight catches, is too underrated with Pats fans, and had his best career catch on the TD yesterday.
Rhamondre has established himself as the guy, and should pair well with Strong next year.
Of the UFA's, we need to prioritize bringing back: Meyers, J.Jones, McDermott, Peppers, McMillan, Ekuale, (Harris if he's cheap)
Bentley has become a quiet star and leader on this D.
Uche & Jennings have finally arrived at solid DE/OLB.
Marcus and Jack should help solidify CB next year (if Jack can get past this suspension issue)
Mac grew up this year - not in performance, but in adversity and perseverance. Hopefully next year can be the leap.

 

[mgcolby]

Does he ever act fast with regards to coaches?

He has in the past a few times. Usually bringing people back. I mean he brought McDaniels in almost immediately after he was fired in Denver. I believe he hired Matty P pretty quick after being fired. I think he came to an agrreement with whaterver his name is the old Rutgers coach pretty quick even though he ended up not coming on board. I don't remember the Judge hiring timeline. And I could be wrong on Rutgers too.

But those were people he knew very well or worked with previously. We have not seen him hire an outsider for any coordinator job. If he chooses to go outside his staff for OC (which I hope, he does) he makes it happen quick. Not a fan of BoB and I think Reich (my preference) may end up with a HC gig. So, if he targets someone like that, he may have to wait for the HC carousal to stop spinning.

 

[sean10mm]

The prescription is pretty simple in theory:

Purge offensive and special teams coaches, Stalin-style
Beef up OL
Get a no-kidding #1 WR

The offensive hires were obviously trash to everyone but Bill himself, somehow. But as long as he's not literally senile I expect that to change.

Belichick has a good track record fielding at least decent OLs, and as great as Scar was I doubt that was ALL him. So this doesn't seem like a stretch to fix, either.

But other than picking up a merc in free agency to get that top WR, LOL @ Bill's history on that front.

 

[ashley]

A good article by Barth- pending free agents and what the likelihood of them returning/signing:

A look at the Patriots’ pending free agents for 2023

The New England Patriots have 23 players set to become free agents when the new NFL league year begins in March.

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