Matt Patricia Tries To Put Positive Spin On 'Negative' Question About Patriots Defense
By Matt Dolloff, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- As popular an idea as it is to say Bill Belichick does literally everything to run the Patriots football team, he quite literally can't do everything. Ultimately, Belichick is only one man with one brain and two eyes. He can't watch every player intently at all times during practice, he can't individually coach up all of the players at once, and he certainly can't handle literally every personnel shuffle that happens during games on Sundays. At some point, he has to get something out of his assistant coaches.
That's why defensive coordinator Matt Patricia deserves a modicum of scrutiny for how the Patriots defense has played in 2016, and for how it seems to be unraveling behind-the-scenes or how the coaching staff appears to be losing control of the group in the locker room. At the end of the day, of course it goes back to Belichick - but Patricia certainly hasn't appeared to do much to help the coach in this situation.
CSNNE's Tom E. Curran asked Patricia during his Tuesday conference call, bluntly, whether he is disappointed in himself that he hasn't been able to get as much out of the defense as he wants. The struggles of Patricia and the defense were the focus for his Tuesday column.
Linebacker Jamie Collins had an up-and-down first half of the season and was ostensibly a problem in the locker room before being traded in Week 9, while defensive end Jabaal Sheard also appears to be in Belichick's doghouse. Alan Branch's suspension after testing positive for marijuana may say more about him than the coaching staff, but it also belongs on the list of strange firestorms to infect the Patriots defense in 2016.
How much of that falls on Patricia? It doesn't sound like the defensive coordinator, who is on a short list of potential head coaching candidates for other teams in the offseason, did not seem like he wanted to answer that.
"That's a pretty negative question there, Tom," Patricia said to Curran. "I'm going to try to put the positive spin on that. I mean, you know that's what coaches do. We try to look at the good side of it. We really try to coach everything that comes our way."
He continued his answer with a long-winded version of Belichick's favorite trump card, "We do what's best for the football team." Here is half of it:
"It's a season that is continuously evolving. If you look at the teams through the course of the different seasons that have played that have wound up in the end where you want to be, I'm sure those teams have gone through a lot of different things throughout the season. We're just kind of in that mix. It's getting towards Thanksgiving. We're going to try to play our best football here moving forward with whoever is out there and try to get better no matter what. I certainly, me as a coach I'll answer that one, always look at myself first and I'll always try to make sure I'm doing everything I can to help our team prepare to win and do the best job I can week in and week out, which is what I really try to do."
Curran made a sobering point for Patricia in his column: if he really wants to be a head coach, Patricia will "need to buckle up for tougher stuff" than what Curran asked him on Tuesday. Here he's only in charge of the defense, and even that is constantly in question with Belichick's shadow hanging over him.
It's true, the defense ultimately runs on a Belichickian philosophy. The game plans from week-to-week stem from Belichick. But at some point, the onus needs to fall on Patricia to find ways to coach better and get the players to play better. It's fair to note that Belichick took away one of Patricia's best players and that is not necessarily his fault - but is it impossible to fathom that Collins' issues with "freelancing" and clashing with coaches fell at least somewhat on Patricia's shoulders?
As much as Tom Brady deserves credit for keeping the offense humming, Josh McDaniels also deserves credit for doing a good job coordinating the group and calling plays - just like he often gets blamed when the team makes bad play-calls. Patricia should get the same treatment when it comes to the defense. Because at the end of the day, Belichick can't do literally everything on his own. He needs Patricia to help at some point. And the time will only continue to get more urgent for Patricia to do something about the defense.
Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Have a news tip or comment for Matt? Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.
