The New England Patriots decided to forego naming an official offensive coordinator for the 2022 NFL season and that move has, predictably, resulted in a disaster.
Matt Patricia calling plays and Joe Judge serving as the quarterbacks coach has been a colossal failure through the first 15 weeks.
The passing attack has been particularly awful. The Patriots rank 23rd in pass yards per game, 30th in passing touchdowns and 20th in QB rating. Starting quarterback Mac Jones has taken a huge step back from his impressive rookie campaign a year ago. He's been unable to contain his frustration on the field and on the bench the last couple weeks.
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Perry: Stunning situational failures continue to plague Belichick's Patriots
One former Patriots executive, Mike Lombardi, criticized Bill Belichick's hiring of Patricia and Judge as a huge mistake during the latest episode of his podcast, "GM Street".
"There’s going to have to be a really hard self-evaluation, and it’s going to have to start with the head coach because they can’t throw the ball. Let’s just put it out there. They cannot throw the football. This whole Matt Patricia-Joe Judge, it’s not working," said Lombardi.
"We’re in Week 16. You want to say ‘Mac Jones sucks,’ but you watched him last year with Josh McDaniels. He didn’t suck. So, you decide. They can’t throw the ball. They have no passing game. They just run plays. I’ve been saying this for how long? It’s bad, and it’s not working. It’s just not working."
New England Patriots
Patricia's background, particularly in New England, has primarily been focused on the defense. He was the defensive coordinator from 2012 through 2017 before leaving in 2018 to become the Detroit Lions' head coach.
"Just because he coaches defense, doesn’t mean he can call offensive plays or set up an offense," Lombardi said. "It’s not there. I think what Vance Joseph said was true. He was being honest."
One of the worst aspects of the Patriots offense is the lack of consistency each week. They don't build off good performances (Week 12 vs. the Minnesota Vikings, for example) and take a step forward the next game. The self-inflicted mistakes we saw early in the season -- play clock mismanagement, poor play-calling, penalties, etc. -- are still an issue in December.
"For them not to be able to throw the football half effectively, it’s mind blowing," Lombardi said. "We see it in the league, there’s a reason why (Bill) Walsh said years ago, ‘there’s a reason why very few people can evaluate the quarterback and even fewer can coach them.’ This experiment is a failure – it just doesn’t work. It’s not there. It’s not getting any better. There’s no continuity from week to week to week."
Despite all of these issues offensively, the Patriots still control their own destiny in the AFC playoff race. The Patriots will secure a wild card spot if they win out, but doing that will be quite difficult with the Cincinnati Bengals, Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills left on the schedule.