Kernels of concern are already popping up about the New England Patriots’ offense.
News emerged earlier this month that Bill Belichick is staging something of an “open competition” between former NFL head coaches Matt Patricia and Joe Judge for who will lead New England’s offense, with former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels having left to coach the Raiders.
Boston Sports Journal founder Greg Bedard appeared on NBC Sports Boston last week, and spoke about worries percolating among offensive players.
“I don’t want to make a huge deal out of this yet, because let’s keep in mind this is a completely new regime on the offensive side of the ball,” Bedard said.
Joe Judge is vying with Matt Patricia to lead the Patriots’ offense. Getty Images
Matt Patricia as head coach of the Lions. Getty Images“They could be doing things a different way and there could be a lot of people who aren’t used to the way things will be done. They could be better. I’m allowing for that because it’s extremely early in terms of what they’ve done.”
The way this take was introduced, you knew a “however” pivot was coming.
“But so far, I have countless people who have either been with the Patriots or are hearing from players on the team – they are alarmed to this point. And they’ve barely done anything so far,” Bedard said.
“And so, they are really worried about the direction of the offense – where this is going. A lot of people around the NFL listened to what Joe Judge said the other day, and almost all of them were like, ‘What? What is he talking about?’ There is a high level of concern about what’s going on with the Patriots.”
Judge and Patricia were a combined 23-52-1 as head coaches of the Giants and Lions, and the units they previously led as top-ranked assistants were on special teams and defense.
