What will happen at THE MEETING? When the Patriots were 6-4 in November, nobody was surprised.
But during the team’s 5-2 post Thanksgiving slip, marred by insane errors, offensive ineptitude and an at times angry quarterback, the importance of that question grew.
Postseason, as owner Robert Kraft sat down with Bill Belichick for his annual postseason debrief, would Belichick share a plan for 2023 to get Kraft’s team back to where it was? Competently. buttoned up Entertaining.
Or would Belichick resist the idea that 2022 was bad at all? And if so, would that mean an irresolvable impasse that could end with Belichick and Kraft getting divorced over irreconcilable differences?
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THE MEETING, I am told, took place. There is no dead end. The Patriots are on course to 2023, with Belichick acknowledging that 2022 wasn’t ideal and is open to change.
Don’t expect a dog-and-pony show announcing layoffs or who’s coming for an interview. Belichick will not gore anyone’s head for the amusement of the masses. But I understand that offense coach reassignments will occur and multiple offense coaches will be considered for the Patriots 2023 staff.
Belichick is just moving on. That’s one of the problems with one person doing so many jobs. There is a legitimate interest in the immediate success of the field product, which can be at the expense of future planning.
As of 4:15 p.m. Sunday, the Patriots were a potential playoff team. What if they came in and the offense started clicking? Well, maybe changes weren’t necessary after all. So while Belichick played the role of Charlie Brown waiting for the Great Pumpkin to arrive in the form of a productive offensive, all future planning was put on hold.
And now they come to it.
A key aspect of the meeting: Did Belichick need to be persuaded to change course on offense, or did he go in because he knew changes were needed? As far as I know, no persuasion was required on Kraft’s part.
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And that’s important in that the trope of “owner interference” stings Kraft. Both he and Jonathan Kraft have publicly stated that they avoid Belichick. They’ve officially said that Belichick has earned the latitude to manage the football team as he sees fit.
Kraft made sure that was clear in 2019 and 2020 when Belichick decided to step out of the Tom Brady era. And he made sure to do so after 2017, when the false notion that he forced Belichick to act Jimmy Garoppolo was reported and still lives on.
Who comes in to fix the offense? What’s the title? When does he start? Again, assume Belichick will play all announcements slowly. It probably doesn’t give anyone the satisfaction of knowing that a change has been made.
But until there is a change of heart, changes will come.