Should Patriots make coaching changes? NFL coaches, executives weighing in originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – While Patriots coaches have been in the crosshairs of the media and fans in recent weeks, recent opponents felt New England’s main problem was due to wearing helmets on the sidelines, not of headphones.
“The quarterback (Drake Maye) looks like the real deal,” said a rival general manager. “He just needs a lot of help. Especially on the offensive line.”
“The plan isn’t bad defensively,” an opposing offensive coordinator said. “We’ve seen worse. Their problem is that they have one good player (Christian Gonzalez). A group of those guys who have played good football for them in the past are not themselves at the moment.”
That doesn’t excuse what the Patriots have put on the field this season from a preparation and game management standpoint. That falls on the coaches, specifically head coach Jerod Mayo, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington.
But with a selection that struggles to keep up with the opposition from a talent perspective on a weekly basis, the technical staff has its hands full.
Speaking to several sources around the league who have experience with hiring and firing at the head coach and coordinator level, there are two paths that seem to make the most sense for the Patriots moving forward.
One would be to start over with a brand new staff. The other would be to keep all three of Mayo, Covington and Van Pelt and allow them to get the team back into contention with a roster that should be able to improve this coming offseason.
The rationale in the last scenario: Even if you plan to swap coordinators and keep Mayo, coveted options for those jobs may be difficult to come by. Will the next coordinator (or coordinators) really be set up for success if tied to a head coach who could be the No. 1 spot in Year 2, with a roster that still appears to need multiple rebuilding periods?
Whatever happens with the staff, the roster will undergo real change in the months after the regular season. That will be necessary to keep up with the Bills and others atop the AFC.
