Football fans long pointed to New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick and Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy being on two different ends of the coaching spectrum. The gap proved itself in Week 7 of the 2022 NFL season, too.
… But probably not in the way many might have thought.
This time it was Belichick who could’ve learned one or two things from McCarthy rather than other way around, as it has been so many times in the past. And yes, we did just compare the situations in Dallas and New England situations last week, but given how everything has since played out, there’s plenty more to dissect.
After all, Belichick seemingly has bungled New England’s quarterback situation between Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe. Time and time again Belichick deflected on who the starting quarterback would be, but the worst mistake came on “Monday Night Football” as he pulled the 2021 first-rounder with fans at Gillette Stadium showering Jones in boos after three offensive drives. Whether or not Belichick told Jones and Zappe the plan beforehand, Patriots teammates expressed how they didn’t know it. They were surprised as so many others were. And now it’s created the public perception Jones was pulled because of performance rather than any health-related concern. If Jones was healthy enough to start — he missed three games with a high ankle sprain — he shouldn’t have been on a pitch count. And if there was any concern about the starter moving forward, despite reports indicating the contrary, Jones should not have been on the field in primetime to compete for his job. It certainly did not aid in Jones’ confidence all while the second-half play of Zappe indicates “Zappe Hour” might be heading toward last call. The national audience now will say how the Patriots went from having two capable quarterbacks to zero, and it’s fair to think Belichick helped that narrative marinate.
Meanwhile, the Cowboys treated their once-framed “competition” exactly the way they should have. Cooper Rush excelled with Dak Prescott sidelined by injury, but when Dallas deemed Prescott cleared to play, they didn’t have him on a short leash because they were seeking a Week 7 win. Prescott undoubtedly showed rust, which will happen after missing five games with a thumb injury. But despite Dallas trailing the lowly Detroit Lions at half — Prescott’s offense produced three points before the intermission — McCarthy stuck with the franchise signal-caller. It seems rather obvious, right? Getting a recovering starting quarterback nursed back to health is more important than a mid-season win, after all. So instead the Cowboys relied on their run game and defense with Prescott throwing just 25 passing attempts. The complementary effort — again, the Dallas defense was sensational as opposed to that of New England — led to a Week 7 win and allowed the quarterback to get a game under his belt after recovery.
All told, it went the complete opposite way in Foxboro. And now Belichick has nobody to blame but himself for creating a quarterback controversy and letting it develop.
Here are more NFL takeaways from Week 7:
— The main storyline coming out of the “Monday Night Football” undoubtedly will be New England’s quarterback controversy gaining national attention, but the team’s defensive effort was incredibly disappointing. Chicago quarterback Justin Fields put together arguably the single-best game of his NFL career as the Bears, which entered heavily reliant on their run game, gashed the Patriots on the ground. Belichick, who so often makes an opponent play left-handed, didn’t execute a plan nearly good enough to stop the Bears, proving to be one of the coaching staff’s biggest low lights in recent memory.
— Kudos to the New York Jets for improving their team after a devastating season-ending injury to rookie standout Breece Hall. The 5-2 Jets traded for former Jacksonville Jaguars running back James Robinson, giving up a conditional Day 3 pick in order to acquire the impending free agent. Robinson is on a modest contract for the rest of the season. The Jets currently sit in second place in the AFC East and would have the first wild-card spot if the playoffs started after Week 7. The push for Robinson, while far from a division-winning move, undoubtedly helps fill the void for a team seeking its first playoff berth in more than a decade.
— It’s really hard to tell which teams (and things?) are good and which are bad this season. But undoubtedly the biggest stunner of the season was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers losing consecutive games to Mitchell Trubisky’s Pittsburgh Steelers and P.J. Walker’s Carolina Panthers. Tom Brady was absolutely lit up on social media following the Week 7 loss, which was the second-worst against-the-spread defeat of his career with Tampa Bay closing as a 13.5-point favorite. Brady’s offense scored just three points in an out-of-sync effort while the Buccaneers defense, lauded as a group worthy of title consideration, fell flat again.
— The Cincinnati Bengals, however, put together a performance rivaling some of their best from last season. Quarterback Joe Burrow threw for 481 yards and three touchdowns as Cincinnati scored touchdowns on each of its first four possessions. The Bengals’ 35-17 win marked the most productive day for the offense this season — 537 yards of offense (!) — while Cincinnati took a step in the right direction after an otherwise underwhelming start to the campaign.
— The Minnesota Vikings, despite being on their bye week, were helped in the standings with the Green Bay Packers dropping a third straight game, this time to the Washington Commanders. It might be time for Aaron Rodgers’ team to sell, despite entering the campaign with Super Bowl aspirations. Minnesota, meanwhile, could run away with the NFC North given how poor their competition is.
