New England Patriots: Lousy coaching against Cowboys loses game and season
The New England Patriots lousy coaching cost them a critical game against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday afternoon, and the season is now effectively history after week 6.
One thing is certain, if you give a top NFL quarterback time to pass, he will rip your defense to shreds. No doubt about that.
So, what did head coach Bill Belichick and his defensive coordinator, whoever that might be, allow Dak Prescott, a top NFL quarterback, to do? Allow him all the time in the world to throw the ball.
If you want to hamstring a top quarterback, you’d better send the house on every play. If he beats you, he beats you. But not the New England Patriots. So their season is over. Brilliant.
The Patriots lost to Dallas by a score of 35-29 because of this defective defensive strategy. And an overall poor coaching strategy. It was another loss due largely to poor coaching.
Belichick may have won six Super Bowls (thanks largely to Tom Brady) but his coaching these days looks abysmal. His defensive coaching, well, is not good. Not at all. Frankly, it stinks.
In the post-Tom Brady era, Belichick’s coaching record is 9-14. Nothing to brag about unless you’re the New York Jets.
New England Patriots offensive and defensive strategies fail miserably
New England’s laid-back and wait defense against Dak Prescott was a dismal failure. As per usual, on third and long, this defense can’t get off the field.
Belichick’s strategy to rush three or four and try to defend didn’t work. But evidently, the head coach, or whoever else is calling the plays for the defense, didn’t see that. They failed miserably.
On Sunday against Dallas, Belichick kept his defense back against Dak Prescott and paid the price. He will tear you apart if you give him time to pass. Guess the Patriots head coach was unaware.
Offensively, things weren’t much different. A bad penalty on the first touchdown catch by Jakobi Meyers on a fabulous pass, a bad fumble by Mac Jones, and the Cowboys were off and galloping.
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A lack of faith to get a yard on fourth down resulted in a blocked punt. Not the best decision, coach, not at all. The call here is, if you’re going to lose, lose with dignity. Go for the gusto. You punted and lost.
Then, the Patriots get a fumble on the goal line on Dak Prescott. Lucky again. So lucky. It should have been Dallas 17 New England 14 heading into halftime, but the issues remain.
The Cowboys had 41 plays compared to the Pats 17 in the first half. That’s 70 percent of the plays by the vising team. Hello, anybody home? The eventual outcome was inevitable. The better team wins.
New England Patriots poor coaching is the cause of a lost season
The loss against Dallas can be directly attributed to poor coaching, as can be most of the other losses New England has endured this season.
The plan was deficient. The execution was terrible. The end result was predictably another loss. What’s surprising?
Big third-down defensive plays on third and long, the Patriots can’t get off the field. Any big defensive play, not happening.
Frankly, these losses are coaching losses and have in the sixth week of the season rendered the season moot for the Patriots. Again. After $159M in guaranteed spending.
Two seasons lost after Tom Brady was kicked to the curb. Great. For a second season without the guy the Patriots jettisoned, Belichick is failing. Failing as general manager.
And, more poignantly and perhaps surprisingly, failing as a coach. The personnel deficiencies are no surprise. Maybe the coaching deficiencies are. The Patriots can’t stop anything.
The defense is pitiful, just pitiful. Dallas, when they needed to, just rolled over them like a bulldozer on new pavement.
The illusion was that Belichick’s coaching acumen was greatly responsible for the Patriots’ monumental dynasty. It wasn’t.
The fact is, it was Tom Brady all the time. No surprise here. Not at all.
Robert Kraft has to be evaluating things after he spent that guaranteed $159M of his cash (not that it even dents the pockets of this fellow), yet, it’s still a significant investment, nonetheless.
He has to be asking himself justifiably whether he chose poorly when he allowed Belichick to run Tom Brady out of town. He did, indeed. He certainly chose poorly. The choice was Brady.
This space has made it clear, he and Belichick messed up big-time on all this. Belichick had pride at stake. Pride comes before the fall.
Yet Kraft is the owner, and he had the final say. He failed to do the right thing. A huge fail. So now he owns a big payroll and little else but a 2-4 record. Congrats.
Tampa’s record (ah, yes, they won a Super Bowl last season) this season, is 5-1, atop the NFC South Division (and headed for another Super Bowl run).
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Fancy that. The New England Patriots are 2-4 and toast for this season. Done and dusted. How the mighty has fallen, needlessly.
What does all this mean? A lot of money was spent in the postseason. The coaching has been terrible. The Patriots’ record stinks.
The team is essentially out-of-the-post-season. You decide for yourself. It ain’t good. Not good at all. What do you think about all this? We would like to hear.