The Patriots’ performance in which they’ve been outscored 72-3 over the last two weeks is not lost on previous players.
After scoring a field goal against Dallas in Week 4 and losing in an embarrassing shutout to the Saints at home on Sunday, it’s difficult for former team captain and three-time Super Bowl champ Devin McCourty to see things turning around.
The former defense back-turned-analyst at NBC addressed Bill Belichick’s postgame comments about the need to “start over.”
“I don’t know where they can start over. They just might keep losing. New England, look out, you might have a top-five pick next year,” said McCourty on Sunday night’s “Football Night in America.”
Belichick responded with variations of the same answer for the remainder of the press conference, but he clarified on Monday in his weekly interview with WEEI that his “start over” response does not mean he believes his players should give up on the current season and wait to completely reset.
“We’ll just take a look at everything,” Belichick said. “Obviously we didn’t do anything well enough yesterday. Fundamentals is definitely a part of any successful play or game. That’s part of it. I mean, there’s obviously other things. We’ll look at everything.”
Over McCourty’s 13-year career with the Patriots, he tallied 35 interceptions, 11 forced fumbles, two touchdowns, and three sacks, along with getting two Pro Bowl nods.
Belichick and the Patriots have received no shortage of criticism, including from four anonymous NFL executives who revealed their thoughts to The Athletic.
“Bill is brilliant and provides a lot of value,” one exec said. “He needs help with player acquisition. The question is, will he accept it or fight it? He’s going to have to make sacrifices to get that all-time record for wins.”
“Who would take a job in personnel there and think that they have real power?” another exec said. “How do you get somebody? I’m wondering if that is why they ended up with Patricia and Judge a year ago, and Bill O’Brien now. Maybe nobody else wanted the jobs.”
Mac Jones hasn’t missed out on any critiques either as the quarterback has failed to bounce back as desired with O’Brien as the new offensive coordinator.
“No matter how good of cook you are, you cannot make garbage taste good,” said an anonymous person close to Jones on Sunday to Fox Sports AFC East reporter Henry McKenna. “Even if it was not Mac at QB, what QB would want to play here under these conditions?”
The Patriots will face the Raiders next week, who will have ex-New England QB Jimmy Garoppolo back after he suffered a concussion in Week 3 against the Steelers.