Matt Patricia is the perfect fall guy for Bill Belichick’s disastrous 2022 season
Matt Patricia lived long enough to see himself become the villain in New England.
And to think, it only took a little false hope, an offensive play sheet and a head coach smug and confident enough to put a defensive guy in charge of the offense.
After being fired from his head coaching job with the Detroit Lions, Patricia floated to the only lifeboat he knew with Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. We’ve seen it time and time again with coaches returning to the Belichick tree to repair their coaching image after a failed venture. They then settle in for a while and build up enough credibility to land another crack at a solo act elsewhere.
Josh McDaniels did it after being fired as head coach for the Denver Broncos, while Bill O’Brien is doing it right now after coming off a down year as the offensive coordinator at the University of Alabama.
But New England hasn’t been a sanctuary for Patricia, especially after the way things unfolded in the 2022 season. It has been a living, breathing nightmare for a man that likely set himself back years for another head coaching opportunity.
Under Patricia’s watch, the Patriots offense was dead last in red zone scoring percentage, and Mac Jones completely regressed as a quarterback. The second-year quarterback went from being a Pro Bowler in his first season to having people question if he deserved to start over rookie fourth-round draft pick Bailey Zappe.
It was a precipitous fall that will likely lead to more than just a few knee and elbow scrapes for Patricia’s resume. The Patriots looked absolutely broken this year to the point where they started becoming the butt of the joke.
And Patricia’s offense remained at the center of all of the criticisms.
However, in reality, Belichick was the one that made the decision to pass up on hiring a real offensive coordinator to simply slot Patricia in that position. There’s also the report that the Patriots head coach was moonlighting as the offensive play-caller in game situations.
Patricia was doomed for failure from the start in an offense that never had a real shot at succeeding.
That isn’t to say Belichick had some malicious intent of making a fool out of Patricia. He likely acted in good faith and overconfidence. At 70 years old, Belichick hasn’t shied away from micromanaging everything on the team. He was the de facto general manager, head coach, defensive coordinator and the offensive coordinator as well. Belichick wore more masks than an Avengers costume closet.
But despite all of the roles, Patricia is the one lying in the bed that Belichick made—not the other way around.
He’s the perfect fall guy for one of the worst seasons ever in the Belichick era in New England. O’Brien, a legitimate offensive play-caller, can now swoop in, clean up the mess and restore faith in the team. The world will move on and forget, while pointing and laughing at Patricia’s failed efforts.
Even if Belichick keeps Patricia on in an advisory role, it still won’t repair the damage done by the 2022 season. Only time and another coaching opportunity can do that, whether its in New England or someplace else.
Just make sure it’s on the defensive side of the ball.
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