But it is uniquely bad. If they had an injury at QB and sucked, that’s understandable. If they were playing a lot of rookies, that’s understandable. Those are the two big reasons why teams usually suck so bad on offense. To have your plan A go this bad - something entirely expected by a number of people on this board - typically only happens when it’s 2022 Broncos level dysfunction.
This is what's killing us all. The '22 offense was really bad, but there were so many problems, it was unclear where to focus. They did make quite a few changes, but apart from getting Bourne out of the doghouse and drafting Pop, everything else backfired or only helped marginally (I count Zeke as a marginal win - he's done ok as a backup).
I'm pretty sure that most everyone thinks the Pats offense suffers from a lack of talent.
I mean... you listed multiple teams that suck (Giants, STeelers, Raiders... you actually forgot the Titans) who are or were similarly terrible on offense with their plan A. If multiple teams in a year do a thing it is definitionally not unique. I also think only talking about QB injuries undervalues what is often the big reason a plan A goes sideways... line injuries. And the Patriots line was decimated early, bad lines hurt your QB play, and often lead to QB injuries.
All of those teams score points. The Patriots do not score points. Like, zero. So yes, this offense is not, in fact, like other teams. They are uniquely terrible.
Just to be clear, SJH hasn't just blamed the entire offensive woes on Mac, and Mac alone.
@Cellar-Door I think you're a great and thoughtful poster, so I want to give you the first shot at this.
Welcome to the club.
I think for me as an avowed in Bill We Trust fan I think it would be more helpful if your side of this argument was more generous in how you couched your criticisms. Yes, the offense is a complete mess. I do tend to agree with those who argue most of it can be laid at the feet of the QBs and you fix the QB you suddenly have a very competent team, just like that (we see this everywhere, hello Houston). But still the offense really sucks. The defense on the other hand has been completely rebuilt since 2019 and has had awful injuries to its best players this year and is still very good. Bill obviously rebuilt that side of the ball. So, I'm sort of stuck. He completely overhauled the defense in short order and it is a very good unit. He lost the GOAT on offense at the most important position and it's been a slog in trying to replace him. I think there was a poster who said Bill tried to rebuild everything on the fly on both sides of the ball after TB left and it sorta worked for a couple seasons instead of just outright tanking and maybe that was the critical error. Maybe tanking was the way to go. I think that's a good assessment of what has transpired. I think Bill recognized the direction the NFL was heading in as SMU Sox has pointed out. Bill was up on the trend with the two deep safety look (I'm a basketball guy but I think that's what's happened - very little deep stuff allowed with smallish, fast defenders) and tried to construct a tough, bully-ball offense that could take advantage of this but failed in his execution and mush of that goes back to the QB, again. At the end of the day, I'm not sure this was an egregious fireable offense Bill committed. And I'm open to him having his shot at a top tier QB pick. But, as I said, I'm a Bill guy.
As an aside, I 've seen like four movies since my son was born in 2012. Is Draft Day worth watching? Honestly, had no idea of its existence until recently lol.
Not that I wish to start another argument but it's compellingly awful, with Kevin Costner making one appalling choice after another and ending up with a mediocre-at-best result. Possibly the least heroic movie hero I've ever seen. If I were teaching a decision-making course I would literally use this movie to demonstrate how bad decisions get made.
You sound like someone who had a birthday party and nobody showed up.
Not only do my teammates love me but I sent back the $100 bill in a thoughtfully chosen card.
Agree completely. It's terribly good, stressing the terribly. I watched it for the first time a couple weeks ago, definitely have used an hour and a half of my time less wisely than that on a regular basis.
That's awesome. We're a juggernaut. BB singlehandedly returning football to its 19th century roots.
I think you missed my point to some extent. Perhaps I worded it poorly. I think it’s possible that the Belichick network has been depleted to the point where it no longer is generating the same quality of coaches internally and the external network dried up.
The problem is Mac probably had a banger of a party and all the Bama players and coeds showed up. We just couldn't see it coming.
Agree with this point. It feels like promotions are happening more by necessity than through guys earning it.
Flores, Judge and McDaniels all took a number of younger staff with them when they became head coaches, most of whom still have jobs elsewhere.
Cross-posting my thoughts:
So, your opinion is that opponents are purposely not trying to score more points?
Yeah, I don't see it. Maybe teams are keeping the powder dry on trick plays they may need later in the year, but they aren't sitting there saying "Well we got our 6 that should be enough let's run 25 dives up the middle from here on out."
I said they are putting in work and are legit good. Full stop. Do you think being the worst offense in football doesn't impact these stats? We're also talking about a tiny sample size. Not all defensive performances are created equal. What the 9ers have done is very different from what the Pats have done.
It's funny in just how stupid it is.
It's usually the opposite, though - most of the time a terrible offense leads to a defense that's ok for a half and then gets tired (and also gives up a lot of points because they're dealing with short fields the entire game)
Yeah with literally minutes to go on their first round pick Costner is having his staff do research on a player. Any GM that didn’t know all this stuff by then should be fired instantly with no questions asked.
1000% agree.
Most movies made about things are not even close to an actual representation of what they are depicting. Draft Day is no different. It's ridiculous. But a fun B- movie.
Lol, nobody thinks it's realistic. What happens in NFL war rooms is probably as boring as what happens on Wall Street when big money movement is on the table. High stakes and tension but probably boring as hell and happens over a Teams chat. But as a movie introducing the general public to the unsexy life of being an NFL GM and Kevin Costner doing his thing, it's solid. OK, I'm done with my movie reviews but I also recognize that I started this. I stand by my sequel idea.
Absolutely. The cast alone is worth seeing it. You have Costner, Jennifer Garner, Chadwick Boseman, Denis Leary, Roseanna Arquette, and a bunch of "that guys"
Per the Athletic... Zach may not even want to play?
