The Patriots were inflicted by a disaster that many saw brewing last summer.
Bill Belichick chose an orthodox way of backfilling Josh McDaniels after the longtime offensive coordinator left New England for Las Vegas. Belichick didn't slap the official OC tag on anyone -- an unsurprising move by the guarded head coach -- and chose to split the majority of the offensive coaching duties between two staffers who had virtually no experience on that side of the ball. Matt Patricia was the play-caller and de-facto OC, while Joe Judge was the quarterbacks coach.
The results were disastrous, as the Patriots offense was anemic for most of 2022 and Mac Jones significantly regressed. Former New England linebacker Tedy Bruschi believes not putting the offense in the proper hands was Belichick's most glaring misfire last season.
"I think that the biggest mistake that Bill made was this: He overestimated his players' ability to handle that type of change," Bruschi said Monday on ESPN's "Get Up, as transcribed by NBC Sports Boston." "That's what I think the problem was."
"Because when they're looking around and they don't know who the offensive coordinator is, they see Judge, they see Patricia, they see confusion. They didn't have anybody in there to say, 'Hey, fellas, stop. This is the way it's going to be. Let's all get on the same page,' from a player perspective. That's what they didn't have and Bill overestimated his players to do that."
Fortunately for Jones and company, Jones and Patricia won't be coaching up the offense in 2023. The unit should see marked improvements under the watch of Bill O'Brien, and Adrian Klemm is in line to bolster the offensive line.
But on the flip side, sometimes it comes down to the Jimmys and the Joes more so than the Xs and Os. And when you look across the AFC East, the Patriots clearly have the weakest collection of offensive talent.
