Former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said the 2-8 team missed one big thing in Bill Belichick’s final season as the organization’s head coach.
“You’ve got to change your strategies, different weeks have different challenges, and I think the Patriots, they’re just going through a rough patch and just not playing with the confidence that you see all the time,” Brady said during the game said. Monday’s edition of Let’s Go!, the SiriusXM show and podcast, is produced by The Boston Globe’s Ethan Fuller. “Obviously Coach Belichick, I don’t think the way he coaches now is any different than the way he coached when we were undefeated. There’s a lot of things that need to go right in order to win and be successful.”
Certain sources said to be close to the Patriots have left little doubt over the past week that at least someone within the organization, perhaps someone in the locker room, blames the team’s poor record and performance Quarterback Mac Jones. ESPN statistics show that the Patriots enter the bye week ranking 26th in the NFL with 294.5 offensive yards per game and 31st with a poor performance of 14.1 points per game.
Belichick on Tuesday avoided discussing whether he would keep Jones at the top of the depth chart when New England faces the New York Giants (2-8) on Nov. 26.
“The more I sit back and watch — when you win as an organization, everyone wants to celebrate; everyone has a responsibility,” Brady continued. “In the same way, when you lose, everyone has a responsibility. When you win, everyone can’t get on the bus, and when you lose, everyone gets off and (says) ‘Let’s put Point the finger at one guy.'” When you see failure, you see the organization failed, the fan base failed; everyone was in this together. “
It is believed that Patriots owner Robert Kraft will allow Belichick to finish the season, and the club could end up with a high draft pick and a chance to acquire USC Trojans star Caleb Williams next spring or Derek Meyer of the North Carolina Tar Heels. While some wondered in October whether Brady could end his second retirement to save the Patriots, the 46-year-old appears content to serve as Fox’s lead NFL analyst starting next fall.