Bill Belichick isn’t the tanking type. And if he was, he wouldn’t likely be doing it so close to overtaking Don Shula for the most coaching wins all-time.
But seeing what took place during the week with the quarterbacks, and on Sunday during the game, this had the look and feel of a tank job against the Giants.
Because if it wasn’t, the Patriots are in even worse shape than their 2-9 record would suggest — although they did keep pace for one of the top picks in the draft, so it’s not all bad.
Still, that was the only positive from the latest embarrassing chapter to the 2023 season. They kept in the hunt for Caleb Williams and or Drake Maye.
The rest of it was mind-numbing. From repeated mistakes to poor quarterback play against New York, it’s been the same broken record game after game. Except there was more to the 10-7 loss to the Giants than a case of Ground Hog Day.
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The one thing the Patriots still had in their corner — Belichick knowing how to coach, knowing how to beat rookie quarterbacks, and putting his team in a position to win — flew out the window.
Talk about embarrassing, third-string undrafted rookie Tommy DeVito took him down.
But that’s not the half of it.
Basically, in the end, Belichick was playing not to lose. Since when was that part of his repertoire? Since when does he try to get in position for a game-tying field goal, and not take any chances for the potential game-winning score?
Did he take a knee and go into the locker room with a minute to play with first-year quarterback Tom Brady at the helm against the Rams in that first Super Bowl win? No, he didn’t mess around. He played for the win.
And yet, the way he played during the final minutes against the Giants, he was just hoping to get to overtime and by some miracle eek out a win.
Here’s the scenario. The Patriots were down three, had the ball at the 50-yard line after a punt with 3:15 still to play. That’s plenty of time to either score a touchdown, or kick a field goal.
Backup Bailey Zappe, who came on for Mac Jones in the second half, converted on a 4th-and-4 with a pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster. That got the Patriots a first down on the Giants 44-yard line with 1:58 to play. There was still plenty of time on the clock, and yet, Belichick was clearly playing for the tie.
The Patriots continued to move the ball on the ground, and had a 1st-and-10 from the 22 with 1:11 to go and two timeouts. With a field goal chance assured, there were no attempts at the end zone. Not a single one.
Why was that?
Was that because he didn’t trust his offense to get the job done – without Brady, that’s been a dilemma – or was he in fact tanking? At the very least, it was a curious decision.
Zappe was asked about settling for a field goal after the game.
“Our main objective was to go down there and score points and not be able to give them the ball back, and we were able to do that,” he said.
Technically, that’s correct. But instead of making any attempt to score a touchdown, Chad Ryland missed the potential game-trying field goal from 35 yards out, and that was that.
Or how about Belichick punting from the Giants 37-yard line in the first quarter, instead of going for a 54-yard-field goal? Isn’t that why Ryland was drafted in the first place, because he had a bigger leg than Nick Folk, who was reliable from 50 yards in?
What was Belichick’s explanation for not sending Ryland out? Did he even consider the field goal?
“A little bit,” he replied, “but it felt like we’d have good field position for our defense.”
Not to mention take possible points off the board.
Basically, Belichick played scared much of the game. Offensively anyway, he and Bill O’Brien weren’t the least bit aggressive. And with two wins, why hit the conservative button? Simply because the quarterbacks aren’t good?
Meanwhile, Belichick’s decision to not name a quarterback was another head-scratcher. If he was hoping that would provide a boost, it went in the other direction.
Mac Jones (two interceptions) was as bad as he’s been. And Bailey Zappe (one pick) wasn’t much better.
Now, if Belichick was subtly tanking, keeping the quarterbacks on edge and everyone else in the dark for two weeks worked in spades.
On the surface, having the starters split reps with hopes of someone emerging was a desperation move, at best. Sure, everyone had to be concerned with their own jobs, and shouldn’t worry about who the starter was going to be, but it’s something that losing teams do.
Jones sure looked like he needed a break after the Colts loss in Germany. He seemed mentally spent while physically, he couldn’t get the job done. Obviously, he didn’t get the break. And his reps were cut in half.
During his one half of play, he was clearly not on the same page with receivers, most notably Mike Gesicki.
Did Jones feel he was put in the best position to succeed?
“It’s my job to go out there and play well regardless of the circumstance. There’s no excuses not to,” Jones said. “I had a few bad throws, and I just wasn’t on the same page with the offense today. So, I gotta do a better job creating that standard and making sure we communicate.”
Or Belichick can continue to start Mac from here on out, and watch the losses pile it. But then again, they’d probably suffer the same fate with Zappe.
While the defense is doing its job, holding the last two opponents to 10 points each, the offense is just so bad, it looks like its on tank patrol.
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