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Report details Patriots’ eye-opening dysfunction amid lost season originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
As the New England Patriots wrap up their worst season in three decades, it’s fair to wonder: What the heck happened?
How did a Patriots team that was supposed to improve from an 8-9 campaign thanks to the offseason additions of Bill O’Brien, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Ezekiel Elliott and others go in the exact opposite direction, limping into their 2023 season finale at 4-12 and putting the future of head coach Bill Belichick in doubt?
As it turns out, quite a lot went down behind the scenes.
In a lengthy article published Thursday, the Boston Herald’s Andrew Callahan and Doug Kyed cited Patriots sources detailing multiple examples of “dysfunction” that hamstrung the offense and resulted in a “broken quarterback” in Mac Jones and “finger-pointing between the coaching staff and front office.”
The full article is worth a read, but here are some of the more notable quotes and details:
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— The issues started at the very beginning: Per Callahan and Kyed’s sources, Belichick “preferred to keep” Matt Patricia and “grow together” with his 2022 offensive play-caller but ultimately “relented” and allowed the team to hire O’Brien as offensive coordinator.
Belichick then “denied” O’Brien the opportunity to build out his own offensive coaching staff, allowing just one outside hire in tight ends coach Will Lawing.
“The staff dynamic is completely f—ed,” one source told Callahan and Kyed.
— New offensive line coach Adrian Klemm “confronted director of player personnel Matt Groh early in the season (about the team’s lack of quality players) in a loud exchange that reverberated through the organization,” Callahan and Kyed wrote.
Klemm “didn’t feel heard,” according to Callahan and Kyed, while other staffers “privately pointed fingers back at decision-makers” about the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/report-details-patriots-eye-opening-150103612.html
Author : NBC Sports Boston
Publish date : 2024-01-04 15:11:50
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