The New England Patriots have had a rough start to the 2023 NFL regular season.
They own a poor 1-4 record — the worst record in the AFC East right now — and quarterback Mac Jones has really struggled as the team’s starter, considering he’s thrown more interceptions (six) than touchdowns (five) in five starts this season.
Skip Bayless recently called Bill Belichick an “overrated product of Tom Brady” in light of New England’s 34-0 home loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
“Bill Belichick is an overrated product of Tom Brady.” – Skip Bayless
— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) October 9, 2023
Belichick is one of the most accomplished head coaches in the history of professional sports. During his 24 seasons as head coach of the Patriots, he has led the team to six Super Bowl victories. He is also a three-time winner of the NFL AP Coach of the Year award and led the 2007 Patriots to an undefeated 16-0 regular season.
But ever since Brady stopped playing for the Patriots at the end of the 2019 season, Belichick has struggled to lead the team to the same amount of success it had with Brady. He has coached the Patriots to just one winning season over the past three seasons, and that was during the 2021 season when New England finished with a 10-7 regular-season record.
The 2021 Patriots owned a record good enough to qualify for the playoffs, but their playoff stint was short-lived. New England lost to quarterback Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills in the first round of the playoffs by a final score of 47-17.
Allen threw for 308 yards and five touchdowns for the Bills, while Jones threw for 232 yards and two interceptions. Additionally, no running back on New England ran for more than 30 yards in the loss.
While Belichick’s past success as head coach of the Patriots shouldn’t shield him from blame for the team’s poor start to this season, he doesn’t deserve all of the blame for the Patriots being one of the worst teams in the NFL thus far this season. After all, great players are needed to win at a high level in the NFL, and the Patriots are lacking elite talent on the offensive side of the ball.
