Alex Van Pelt’s position with the Patriots has been confirmed
Alex Van Pelt is getting fired. The Patriots are not so subtly interviewing for their next offensive coordinator. Good. Its a shame it took them this long to figure out how important this is.
The Krafts claim they are showing humility by admitting their mistake thinking they could hire the 12th interview candidate to mold the future of their franchise and all would be okay. Belichick may have poisoned the Krafts into thinking the QB is not important in the NFL. At least they have come to their senses sooner rather than later. The Belichick malaise was thick and heavy, but is slowly wearing off in Foxboro.
There is risk in giving a young QB in his 2nd year a new play book and scheme to learn. It’s right out of “how to ruin a QB 101”. For reference please see - Mac Jones - on Page 69. But the risk is higher to stick with a scheme that is dated and a coach that is way above his pay grade.
Bottom line is they need to land this plane. They need to roll out the red carpet and Brinks truck for the best available option. The examples of fucking this up span decades in the NFL right up to last week with Bears OC Shane Waldron being the latest casualty. Now, Personally I think Caleb Williams will just be a bust and he was broken from the start, but the right coach would have at least put that level of sheer talent in a postilion to succeed. Here is New England it does not feel as disastrous with Van Pelt pulling the strings and laying the foundation for Drake Maye’s career. But it does feel hopeless. What’s the ceiling of the offensive potency with and AVP offense? 175 yards rushing and reaching for mid 20’s on the scoreboard every week? They need to think bigger. They need to finally invest back into a brain trust at the coaching level. Stop hiring free retreads. How many Caleb Williams or Trevor Lawrence’s or Mac Jones’ do you need to see to realize the coaching foundation is where it all starts. I thought they understood that in Foxboro. It seems though, even when doing the right thing they do it wrong.
This is a good thing. Even if they are doing it wrong. You can’t have the worst offense in the league with no sense of future and keep your job. You also can’t stay on the staff. That’s a breeding ground for distrust and mixed communication. I give the organization a little bit of credit for not tearing each other down by now with so many fractions trying to fill the power vacuum of the greatest coach of all time. If I were them I’d thank Drake Maye every day. He is the glue at this point. If we were still watching Brissett every week there would be mutinies and cues and infighting left and right.
So, AVP has to go. Full stop. It’s not totally his fault. He was never qualified for the job. He never should have gotten it with this organization, but its a result oriented business and his results suck.
The bigger question is what was the plan originally? Were the Krafts so flabbergasted at Belichick’s complete dereliction of duty in his final years here forced into an early retirement that Jerod Mayo and Alex Van Pelt were the best they could do? Was the Belichick smog that thick they actually didn’t understand the trend lines in the NFL? They didn’t think they would need a highly itelligent and skilled coach to help their young QB develop? It’s good that there seems to be some pro active movements, but they can’t be let off the hook for the failure that has taken place in the wake of Belichick across the board. Land the plane.
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