You're making a technical point, and I don't think it's a fair one. Everything you mention is Belichick's responsibility, but saying it's his
fault is a bridge too far. Besides, it's not a very useful way of looking at the problem. I propose answering the question by imagining we could replace any of the five items in the poll with a top 5 version of that item.
For example, we might replace (these are proxies; I don't know shit):
- Mac with Jalen Hurts
- Our O line with Cleveland's
- Patricia with Eric Bieniemy
- Our skill position players with the Bengals'
- Bill the GM with Mickey Loomis
Which swap does the most for our offense? Well, I'd say our O line, when healthy, is pretty close to average. I don't see how Bienemy succeeds with this group. Chase, Higgins, and Mixon would make us better I guess, but we'd still have problem with Mac at the trigger. And as to evaluating Bill versus Loomis, that's above my pay grade.
For me it comes down to the QB position. Hurts makes the O line and skilled players better, and he offers Matty P more versatility. I say this a guy who loved the Mac pick, was super high on him coming into this season, and badly wants him and the Pats to succeed. At this point, I just don't think he has the physical skills combat what NFL defenses are doing to him.