MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Bill Belichick walked off the sector, his head down, not trying as much as see who, or what was in entrance of him as he made his solution to the locker room.
After dropping to the Dolphins for one more time on the street, he had the look of a person strolling the plank.
He appeared no much less dejected when he met with the media, talking in whispered tones in a press convention that didn’t final 4 minutes.
Belichick needed to be feeling this loss, one more to the less-than-inspiring Tua Tagovailoa, who’s unbeaten in opposition to the Patriots.
He needed to be feeling the burden of dropping to a first-time head coach, Mike McDaniel, one thing that hardly ever, if ever, occurs, whereas watching his Matt Patricia/Joe Judge-coached offense rating simply as soon as in a mistake-filled 20-7 loss.
In the lead-up to the season opener in opposition to the Dolphins, Belichick primarily invited individuals to place his image in the midst of a dart board, and fireplace away at him if issues went unhealthy.
He mentioned accountable him if Patricia and Judge, two coaches who had by no means coached offense, a lot much less labored with a quarterback, didn’t do their job.
Let’s simply say the “Blame Bill” brigade had loads of materials following the loss to the Fins.
Yes, it’s just one recreation, and never essentially a precursor for the season.
But as soon as once more, the Patriots simply didn’t look ready or able to deal with what they knew they had been going to face.
And that was with two weeks to repair what was improper from the preseason.
They even traveled to South Florida earlier within the week to get accustomed to the warmth to attempt to change their destiny, and nonetheless couldn’t keep away from dropping.
Everything that would presumably go improper within the span of 4 quarters at steamy Hard Rock Stadium, did for the Patriots.
From an offensive line that also had communication points, leaving free pass-rushers to pummel QB Mac Jones; to a litany of different errors, be it a pair of fumbles, a expensive interception, together with too many missed tackles.
It’s simply not a profitable model of soccer.
And, making issues worse, Jones suffered a again damage sooner or later, doubtless from taking a success on the blindside from a type of free rushers late within the recreation. He in a little bit of ache as he slowly walked away from his locker.
So the image didn’t get higher from a dreary preseason. It bought worse.
And Belichick’s remarks after seeing his staff’s first common season efficiency – significantly a shoddy one by the offense – did nothing to allay fears or considerations.
“Well, it’s obviously a disappointing start here,” he mentioned. “It was really a pretty even game. Two big plays, 14 points, really skewed the game.”
It’s arduous to name it even, when the offense stored making errors, and the protection, whereas holding the Fins to simply 13 factors, couldn’t get off the sector.
The two large performs?
One was the strip-sack of Jones deep in Patriot territory that resulted in seven factors. The Patriots, be it Jones or Trent Brown, didn’t decide up the blitz off the left aspect, with security Brandon Jones dashing free and nailing the quarterback, who surrendered the soccer. Melvin Ingram picked up the ball and waltzed two yards into the tip zone untouched.
Basically, seven free factors.
The second was Miami deciding to gamble on fourth-and-8 from the Pats 42 yard-line, with 18 seconds left earlier than the half. Jaylen Waddle blew by Jalen Mills in man-coverage – why did they even go along with man protection there? – earlier than Kyle Dugger and Ja’Whaun Bentley collided making an attempt to sort out him.
That Keystone Cops routine resulted in one other seven.
But let’s not cease on the two large performs.
The offense, which didn’t make the most of lots of the outdoors zone ideas that failed through the preseason, regarded the most effective it’s regarded all summer time on the very first drive. Jones & Co. simply moved the ball to the ’Fins 22-yard-line with a pleasant mixture of move and run performs earlier than Jones put up a 50-50 ball towards DeVante Parker ultimately zone.
Going with a fade with Xavien Howard because the defender additionally didn’t look like the brightest name. And because it turned out, it wasn’t. The ball ricocheted off Howard and Parker, into the palms of security Javon Holland for a killer interception to fully change the momentum within the first quarter.
Beyond that, the Patriots simply couldn’t produce any explosive performs. It may need helped if their most explosive participant, Kendrick Bourne, wasn’t a bystander on the sideline for 99 p.c of the sport.
He got here in for 2 performs throughout desperation time on the finish, and caught a 41-yard-pass to maintain the Pats alive earlier than being changed, and watched as Nelson Agholor fumbled the ball away two performs later.
They additionally couldn’t deal with the blitz-happy Dolphins, who disrupted the Patriots offense repeatedly.
“We beat ourselves,” mentioned middle David Andrews. “Three, four turnovers, a strip sack for a touchdown. It was more of a ‘can’t win till you keep from losing’ kind of day than anything else.”
Was that play-caller Patricia who determined it was greatest to have Bourne be a bystander? That would seem like the case.
And isn’t Patricia accountable for fixing the communication issues with the offensive line?
Or, is Belichick simply trusting him with an excessive amount of?
Since Belichick needs to take the warmth, and will take the warmth, it’s on him. He was speculated to proper the ship and get it proper earlier than the season opener.
That didn’t occur.
Of course, the Patriots have loads of time to show it round, and make Belichick’s religion in Josh McDaniels’ replacements come to fruition. There’s nonetheless time for Belichick to win out.
As the gamers identified, it’s only one recreation, one loss.
The bother is, that loss solely strengthened everybody’s fears about the place that is headed. And it’s not place.
Source: www.bostonherald.com