The New England Patriots have received no end of criticism for head coach Bill Belichick’s decision to not name a proper offensive coordinator and to instead split duties between multiple members of his staff.
In an interview with the Boston Globe, Belichick dismissed the criticisms of Matt Patricia and Joe Judge. He believes they’re both good coaches and that he expects to be held responsible for the team’s success and failures anyway.
“I think they’re both good coaches,” Belichick told the Boston Globe. “Ultimately, it’s my responsibility, like it always is. So if it doesn’t go well, blame me.”
Belichick also pointed out that he has had other coaches in the past who functioned the same way. He listed off a half-dozen coaches on his staff who never called offensive or defensive plays before being thrust into the job.
“I don’t see it any differently than it was in the last 22 years,” Belichick said. “Look at our other offensive coordinators. We had Charlie (Weis). Then Josh (McDaniels). He’d never called offensive plays. Bill O’Brien never called plays in the NFL. Josh came back. We’ve changed coaches in every area, multiple times. Defensively, Matt Patricia had never called plays. Then he won a couple of Super Bowls. Brian Flores had never called plays. That worked out all right. Steve (Belichick) has been calling defenses… We have plenty of coaches that didn’t have previous experience and it’s worked out pretty well with most of them, but not all of them.”
Clearly Belichick believes that the trend of coaches thriving in brand new roles will continue.
The wider football world may disagree with Belichick’s assessment, but we now have an entire season to look forward to in order to gauge the situation.
Will Belichick be proven right?