FOXBOROUGH – On Thursday, Alex Van Pelt acknowledged seeing the clip of Robert and Jonathan Kraft in the owner’s box during Sunday’s loss to the Cardinals, clearly agitated by the play-calling on offense.
Van Pelt didn’t need a lip-reader to know that Jonathan Kraft was especially upset.
The Patriots offensive coordinator indicated he often chats with team owner Robert Kraft, and he’s spoken with him during the year about how things are going.
Only, Van Pelt said that ownership hasn’t uttered a peep to him about the aforementioned video clip, which went viral.
On one hand, the silence could certainly be perceived as a bad omen for Van Pelt. Or, it could mean absolutely nothing.
- BETTING: Check out our MA sports betting guide, where you can learn basic terminology, definitions and how to read odds for those interested in learning how to bet in Massachusetts.
With a 3-11 team that keeps making the same mistakes, and has shown no signs of progress, it seems more like the former case. Whether it’s Alex Van Pelt, defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington, or members of their respective staffs, everyone has to be on notice in the coming weeks.
“My door is always open. Obviously, the Krafts, I answer to those guys,” Van Pelt said. “So, if they ever want to come down and talk, my door is open. I’ve had great conversations with Robert over the course of the season, Mr. Kraft, and it’s been positive. Always willing and always available.”
Van Pelt has done a good job developing Drake Maye. That was his most important job after being hired during the offseason and he’s delivered.
While his play-calling has been cautious, to a fault, he has for the most part done well with a limited cast. Specifically, he’s working with a woeful offensive line, and a collection of receivers that can’t separate from man-coverage.
It’s debatable if many offensive coordinators could do much better given the lack of talent on the offensive side of the ball. But it was clear from the video the Krafts weren’t pleased during the second quarter, when cameras panned to their box after two runs went for minus-1, and minus-5 yards after Maye led them into Arizona territory.
If it’s decided to move on from Van Pelt, they have to be careful not to set back Maye, who has a very good relationship with his coach, and went to bat for him during the week.
“I think AVP, what he’s done for me this year, and what he’s done for my development has been huge for me,” Maye said during his weekly radio hit on WEEI. He later added: “I’ve been a big fan of AVP, and how he’s handled my approach. Shoot, this is only our 8th or 9th game together. So we’re still figuring each other out, how he’s calling it, and how much input he wants me to help him with. It’s been nice trying to find that. I think we’re not far from it.”
For Maye to continue to progress, bringing in a new coordinator with a completely different offensive scheme wouldn’t seem like the best way to go.
By the sound of it, Van Pelt assumed the Kraft video was taken later in the game, after the Patriots couldn’t gain a yard on the Cardinals four-yard line in the third quarter, getting stuffed for no gain on a run up the middle on third-and-one, and again on fourth-and-one.
“I know Jonathan was upset. That came out. There’s nobody more pissed off than I was. I promise you that,” Van Pelt said. “No bad play call works. That play works if we block it up. We had it up – had the right numbers for the right people. And it didn’t work.
“Obviously, in hindsight, it’s easy to look back and say, ‘I wish I did something different.’ That’s always part of a playcaller after a game. Would I call that play again in that situation? Probably. We need a half a yard. We called a similar play on the goal line in the Jets game to win it. That’s an attitude play. That’s beat guys off the ball and two lead blockers for a good running back … if it works, it’s a non-issue. If it doesn’t work, then you always kind of second-guess yourself on the call. Schematically, we had the right call on. We just didn’t get the job done.”
Then there’s the issue of whether Van Pelt should have used Maye in that spot for a quarterback sneak. During the nine starts Maye has made, Van Pelt has refused to call the rookie’s number in short yardage situations, although he indicated he’d be open to it depending on the circumstance.
Van Pelt and Patriots coach Jerod Mayo don’t seem aligned on this point. There seems to be a disconnect. Mayo says there’s no reason the Patriots shouldn’t utilize Maye in those situations.
Only, Van Pelt doesn’t want to get his rookie, who suffered a concussion during the Week 8 game with the Jets, hurt.
“Really just focused on keeping him out of harm’s way and getting through these last three games healthy, and that’s really what it comes (down) to,” Van Pelt said of Maye on Thursday. “It’s about developing our quarterback. I think we all feel very confident in his abilities. At the same time, I’d hate to lose him and not let him finish out the season by using him in a way where if we didn’t need to, we didn’t have to. So, that’s kind of my thought on that.”
The message Mayo conveyed earlier in the week doesn’t quite jive with that.
“That was a conversation we had in the past,” Mayo said when asked if the past concussion was the reason Maye wasn’t being used in sneak situations. “He’s out of the concussion protocol. He can quarterback sneak.”
Van Pelt was asked about Mayo seeming to throw him under the bus with one of his remarks after the game when asked about not being willing to utilize Maye’s obvious ability to gain a yard – “You said that, I didn’t” – and didn’t seem all that distressed by it.
“I didn’t see (what he said). I had no idea. I was watching tape early in the morning and he came in and said what he had said. I have Jerod’s back at all costs,” Van Pelt said. “We have a great relationship. Very communicative. I took no offense to that whatsoever. I think it was taken out of context, as he said, and we have a great relationship.”
Perhaps they do have a solid relationship. But the question on everyone’s mind is how much longer that relationship is going to last.
