Further details on why New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick selected current offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien over rumored offensive play-caller and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia over the summer are available.
The Boston Herald’s Doug Kyed and Andrew Callahan wrote a story on Thursday stating that Patriots owner Robert Kraft pushed “for coaching changes” following the team’s offensive regression under head coach Brian Patricia with quarterback Mac Jones.
Callahan and Kyed said that “Belichick, according to sources, preferred to keep Patricia and grow together.” “Instead, Belichick relented, and O’Brien returned as offensive coordinator.”
Jones and an offense that, according to ESPN, ranks 28th in the NFL going into Week 18 with an average of 286.1 offensive yards per game were too much for O’Brien to handle. Furthermore, it seems that Belichick and O’Brien couldn’t agree on a few behind-the-scenes decisions made in preparation for the 2023 campaign.
“According to league sources, some assistants came to believe O’Brien wanted to clean house and build his own offensive staff upon arriving in January, but Belichick denied him,” Callahan and Kyed wrote. Will Lawing, the tight ends coach who took Nick Caley’s place, was the only hire made by Belichick. Observers saw O’Brien and his staff as forming a distinct hierarchy: Lawing and assistant quarterbacks coach Evan Rothstein were at the top, followed by everyone else.”
As they get ready for the 4-12 Patriots to play the 6-10 New York Jets in the season finale on Sunday, Belichick, O’Brien, and the other New England coaches’ fates are still up in the air. Patriots employees “are bracing for change,” according to reports, although informed sources outside the building believe Kraft might keep Belichick if the six-time Super Bowl winner head coach agreed to collaborate with an executive who would help with hiring decisions.
“O’Brien also pulled the offense closer to him, running more unit meetings – which involve all offensive players – than Belichick and Patricia had the year before,” Callahan and Kyed went on to say. As a result, sources claimed that there were fewer positional meetings, which reduced the amount of one-on-one time that players and their position coaches could spend together. The majority of things went through O’Brien.”
In an on-air discussion on Thursday, ESPN’s Mike Reiss stated that Robert Kraft and Patriots president Jonathan Kraft will be meeting with Belichick on Monday. Furthermore, according to Reiss, “no decision” on Belichick’s status after Week 18 “has been made at this point.”
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