For better or for worse, it appears Matt Patricia will remain the Patriots’ offensive play-caller for the remainder of the season.
Calls for Patricia’s job reached a fever pitch following New England’s ugly home loss to the Bills last Thursday night. Mac Jones and the Patriots offensive have significantly regressed this season and looked thoroughly overmatched by Buffalo in the 24-10 defeat. After the game, we wrote about why Bill Belichick should cut his (predictable) losses and make a much-needed change at offensive-play caller in an attempt to salvage the season.
But that apparently won’t happen. During his Monday morning “The Greg Hill Show” interview on WEEI, Belichick was asked whether he’s considered demoting Patricia.
“I think we need to do what we’re doing better,” Belichick said. “I don’t think at this point making a lot of dramatic changes — it’s too hard to do that. If we can just do consistently what we were doing, I think we’ll be all right. But we just haven’t been able to have enough consistency. … It’s not one thing. One time, it’s one thing, next time it’s something else.
“We just have to play and coach more consistently.”
Belichick’s comments hardly can be viewed as a full-throated endorsement of Patricia. In fact, you could interpret them as Belichick acknowledging a move would be on the table if not for there being only five weeks left in the season.
The question, then, becomes: Why has Belichick allowed things to reach this point? We might never know.
Speculation over Patricia possibly being removed surely will ramp up during the offseason. Old friend Bill O’Brien already has been floated as a potential candidate, which makes sense given his history both with the Patriots and with Jones.
