A chilly battle is creating between the New England Patriots and Invoice Belichick, which isn’t precisely stunning given the events concerned.
Scenes of the Patriots with out Belichick roaming the sidelines and the coach with out the Flying Elvis on his chest are taking some getting used to. Because the 2024 season — the primary Patriots season with out Belichick on the helm since 1999 — unfolds, each side have gotten more and more comfy lobbing verbal grenades at one another.
After Belichick’s “plan” critique, Patriots coach Jerod Mayo fired the latest shot earlier this week with a thinly veiled barb at Belichick’s roster-building failures that left the cabinets naked as Mayo took over.
On Tuesday, Belichick took his subsequent punch, utilizing a possibility to weigh in on Patriots quarterback Drake Maye to level out a serious defensive deficiency for New England.
On their newest episode of “Coach Podcast,” former Patriots govt Michael Lombardi teed up Belichick for a possibility to weigh in on Maye’s debut Sunday towards Houston. Earlier than even permitting Belichick to present his take, Lombardi steered the dialog within the course of the New England protection.
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“However all of the discuss concerning the quarterback, you gave up 41 factors. Everybody thinks the quarterback is the most important wand,” Lombardi stated, pointing to how the Raiders made a change at quarterback earlier than getting torched by Pittsburgh.
That was the alley to Belichick’s oop.
“Yeah, properly quarterbacks don’t play protection. Some individuals lose sight of that,” the coach quipped, and that just about was that.
Fairly wealthy coming from somebody who had a .743 profitable proportion in his profession with Tom Brady at quarterback (and .466 with out him). We don’t have to relitigate that one proper now, although.
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The complete back-and-forth misses the purpose. Evaluating Maye’s state of affairs to the Raiders isn’t particularly analogous; Las Vegas is making an attempt to resolve between Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew. Maye, in the meantime, was the No. 3 decide making his first profession begin for the Patriots. Apples, oranges, and so on.
It might be legitimately fascinating to get Belichick’s earnest response to what he noticed from Maye, although. Given Belichick’s file towards rookie quarterbacks as a head coach, nobody is best at breaking down younger QBs than the longer term Corridor of Famer. Belichick additionally has been lukewarm on Maye all through the spring and into the summer season, praising his expertise however questioning his decision-making skill.
“You want his dimension, you want his arm, (however) I feel his inexperience actually confirmed up within the preseason because it did a bit bit at North Carolina,” Belichick stated on the identical present in September. “I feel he wants loads of seasoning when it comes to studying coverages, total throwing mechanics and consistency. Is he a giant, quick athlete? Yeah, however I feel it’s going to take greater than that to play quarterback within the Nationwide Soccer League.”
All issues thought-about, Maye dealt with himself fairly properly in his debut. There’s lots for Patriots followers to dream on. It might have been good to listen to Belichick’s enter on that and whether or not he noticed precise progress from the rookie. Alas.
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