Patriots Gridiron News: 3 things Bill Belichick said on a manic Monday
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is on the hot seat not for his job, but for the way his team has been playing the last couple weeks.
The New England Patriots are 1-2 following another lackluster effort against the Detroit Lions Sunday night. The 26-10 loss has not only left the team, fans and coaches frustrated, it also leaves Bill Belichick with some questions to answer.
It is after all his personnel decisions over the last few months that has left this team with not enough weapons to even look like a decent offense. On the defensive side of the ball, his failure to find replacements for players like Chandler Jones and Jamie Collins after shipping them out of town has made for a slow and downright embarrassing defense.
With that being said, the Patriots have been here before in the last several seasons. However, both sides of the ball have never struggled at the same time like this. Scratch that, all phrases of the game has never struggled like this because special teams is nothing to write home about either.
That’s where coaching comes in to play. Bill Belichick needs to find a way to reach this team. Speaking to the media on a Monday following another loss, the stoic, grumpy head coach gave his thoughts on three major concerns following back-to-back losses.
On lack of energy on defense
Besides second-year defensive end Deatrich Wise, rookie linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley and cornerback Stephon Gilmore, the New England Patriots defense seem to lack both energy and urgency on the field.
With the offense struggling like it has, it would be nice if the defense could at least mimic how they looked in Week 1 against the Houston Texans. Suddenly, an aggressive pass rush has disappeared, and the team can’t get off the field on third downs (no matter the distance).
But, according to Belichick, the energy is not a problem.
"“I think the effort and the energy are good,” the Patriots coach said. “We’re just not having a lot of success in any area and I think as soon as we start having some you’ll see a difference, but it’s hard to have it when you’re not making enough plays. We’re not making enough plays in any phase of the game, so we’ve just got to perform better. I think the energy and the effort and all of that -we’re trying. Everybody’s trying hard. We’re just not getting it done, which is all that matters.”"
Not having Trey Flowers, Patrick Chung and Eric Rowe available for the game didn’t help either. But for Bill Belichick’s defense, Dont’a Hightower has to find his dominance again and players like Danny Shelton, Adrian Clayborn and Jason McCourty need to find ways to make noticeable contributions on defense.