FRANKFURT, Germany — Another painful loss, harder questions.
After Sunday’s 10-6 loss to the Colts, a number of Patriots have been requested about their confidence in coach Bill Belichick, whose job safety has been broadly questioned in latest weeks. Their solutions have been almost unanimous in providing assist.
“I think coach Belichick has plenty of respect in this locker room,” Pats operating again Ezekiel Elliott stated. “Just quite a lot of issues haven’t gone our method, we haven’t executed the most effective. We haven’t taken care of the soccer the most effective. We haven’t performed sound sufficient. We haven’t performed disciplined sufficient.
“We have too many penalties. We just gotta find a way to go out there and play better football.”
Turnovers have been once more a problem for the Patriots in Germany, the place Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe each threw devastating interceptions and Hunter Henry fumbled. Belichick repeatedly pressured the significance of defending the ball, which the workforce didn’t do over its 1-5 begin. His message solely just lately started to sink in, most notably throughout an upset of the Bills, although this weekend marked a significant step again.
The Patriots additionally went 0-for-4 contained in the purple zone, which highlighted their struggles with situational soccer. Despite that, captain and middle David Andrews backed his head coach.
“I have a lot of confidence in him. I’ve had a lot of success. I believe in what he says, what he does because I know it’s helped me out in my career and turned me into a better football player,” Andrews stated. “Sitting in Germany, I never thought a kid from Georgia would be sitting in Germany playing in an NFL game, so coach gave me an opportunity when that’s all I wanted. And the good Lord was good to me.”
The Patriots are hoping their upcoming bye shall be good to them. It’s unclear what, if any adjustments, shall be made in the course of the down time to show round a 2-8 season. Before the sport, workforce proprietor Robert Kraft stated he hoped Sunday’s sport would supply an opportunity to reset the season.
The NFL Network additionally reported Sunday that Kraft is “not inclined” to fireside Belichick midseason. Firing Belichick would forestall the workforce from buying and selling him this offseason, assuming he desires to proceed teaching. His contract reportedly runs by subsequent yr.
Special groups captain Matthew Slater, the Patriots’ longest-tenured participant, is amongst these steering blame away from Belichick.
“I have as much faith in coach Belichick as I’ve ever had,” Slater stated. “There’s no reason to be doubting who he is as a leader and a coach for this football team. The struggles that we’ve had on the field this year are due to us and our inability to execute. It’s got nothing to do with coach Belichick.”
Defensively, the Patriots carried out to the extent that’s come to be anticipated within the Belichick period. They held the Colts to 264 complete yards, regardless of lacking beginning linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley and cornerback J.C. Jackson. Indianapolis quarterback Gardner Minshew went 18-of-28 for 194 yards, no touchdowns and one interception, whereas All-Pro operating again Jonathan Taylor was restricted to 69 yards.
Pats security Jabrill Peppers helped energy that effort with 5 tackles and later stood up for his coach within the locker room.
“That’s one of the best to ever do it, you know? We don’t take it for granted, playing for him,” Peppers stated. “You know, we’ve just got to play better. That’s really it.”
Over the final three and a half years, Belichick and the Patriots are 27-34. They might want to win the rest of their video games to complete above .500 and keep away from three shedding seasons within the final 4 years. They are at the moment monitoring for a top-5 decide in subsequent yr’s draft, at which level the franchise might be underneath new management going through an entire new set of questions.
Source: www.bostonherald.com