The blame for the Patriots’ recent struggles has been shelled out in a few different directions.
Many are pointing the finger at Cam Newton, who’s been awful since returning from the reserve/COVID-19 list. Others are giving Newton the benefit of the doubt given New England’s receiving corps, which arguably is one of the worst groups in football.
Rodney Harrison seems to believe both Newton and his supporting cast deserve criticism, but the former Patriots safety also is looking at head coach Bill Belichick. Harrison took aim at Belichick on Sunday night during “Football Night in America.”
“Well, they’re really bad,” Harrison said of the Patriots, as seen on NBC. “I think Coach Belichick, he didn’t do a great job of preparing this team. You look at how this team has played in consecutive weeks, even dating back to Kansas City when Brian Hoyer didn’t know the situation. It just seems like they’re lost and Cam has lost his confidence. I remember Cam coming out, playing with so much confidence, throwing the ball around against Seattle. But all of a sudden, Cam, he can’t even complete a pass. He’s throwing interceptions. That’s the one thing Coach Belichick preaches about.
“You look at the wide receivers, they’re average at best. So he’s done a really poor job of surrounding Cam with weapons on the outside. I look at Julian Edelman, his knee is shot. You watch the tape. He can’t push off, he doesn’t have any power. You got to look at the orchestrator. You got to look at Coach Belichick. They got to do a better job.”
Harrison isn’t the only talking head who called out Belichick following the Patriots’ ugly Week 7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Skip Bayless also stated belief that New England’s long time head coach deserves the bulk of the blame for his team’s current slide.
The Patriots will try to get back in the win column Sunday when they visit the Buffalo Bills.
