New England Patriots links 10/10/21 - Offense salvageable? Possible personnel changes; More!

Today’s links are not for the faint of heart. I’m taking them all with a grain of salt. After reading over two dozen articles on how badly the New England Patriots suck, how broken they are, how dead the dynasty is, how Robert Kraft should jettison the entire coaching staff into space, etc... the shock value just blurs into gray noise.

I get it. The team stinks right now. (Tune in to the upcoming Power Rankings post coming out later today to confirm.) But it’s the glee with which the media is reporting on the train-wreck, that gets me worse than any film review from Sunday. As if Bill Belichick’s struggles are somehow personal and the media finally has the upper hand. Now, finally, they are free to write all the negative stuff they’ve been dying to write about Belichick but couldn’t because of his team’s success. Don’t get me wrong, Belichick is deserving of the most criticism for the team being in the mess they’re in. I just don’t find the same joy in it that some do.

I’m still curious about what potential fixes may be in store and still hoping the brain trust at Gillette can find some way to salvage the season.

TEAM TALK

• Evan Lazar’s After Further Review: How did the offense get to this point and where does the team go from here?
• Mike Dussault reports how the Patriots look to move forward as they regroup to face some old friends in Vegas.
• Alexandra Francisco reports the Patriots will host the German men’s national soccer team at Gillette Stadium ahead of an international friendly vs. United States.
• Press Conference: Bill Belichick.
• WEEI Patriots Monday: Bill Belichick and Mac Jones.

LOCAL LINKS

• Taylor Kyles dons his hazmat suit before entering the Film Room to see what went wrong for the Pats’ offense vs. the Saints. “But through five weeks of play, the offense is worse than anyone could’ve anticipated. The right tackle position has been a turnstile, Parker’s effectiveness as a perimeter deep threat has vanished, Bourne hasn’t taken the leap many hoped for, and Smith-Schuster has been a non-factor. Demario Douglas has popped when given opportunities, but those chances haven’t come often enough... “ More.
• Andrew Callahan’s Patriots-Saints film review: Mac Jones looks as broken as his offense
• Mike Reiss notes the Patriots’ offense is in crisis and Bill Belichick is assessing if Mac Jones is the quarterback to lead them out of it. Here is a look at some of the scenarios Belichick and his staff are likely pondering.
• Mark Daniels examines the Patriots woeful offensive line and why it looked so bad against the Saints.
• Matt Dolloff says that whether he meant to be or not, Bill Belichick is now tanking.
• Conor Ryan shares some quick observations from another embarrassing loss: The Patriots have not scored an offensive touchdown in 10 quarters of football.
• Andy Hart gives us Sunday’s Snap counts: Moving pieces along the Patriots’ O-line. It’s fair to question how much progress has actually been made with Adrian Klemm’s unit.
• Chris Mason suggests Mac Jones might be broken beyond repair.
• Logan Mullen highlights WEEI guest Boomer Esaison: Mac Jones has ‘regressed significantly,’ but the Patriots’ only choice is to stick with him.
• Chris Mason notes Mac Jones refutes a report attributed to “a source close” to the QB that claimed Mac said he was surrounded by ‘garbage’. /IF Mac said it, and the source was really close to Mac Jones, he wouldn’t have repeated it to the media.
• Ian Logue shares five Monday thoughts after the Pats’ 2nd-straight blowout loss: 1) If Bill Belichick has any hope of salvaging the 2023 season, it’s going to require somewhat of a miracle on his offensive line in order for them to have any chance of turning things around.
• Karen Guregian wants to know what Dad Robert Kraft is going to do about Bill Belichick after Sunday’s mess.
• Doug Kyed reports Bill Belichick hints at potential personnel changes after consecutive embarrassing losses.
• Alex Barth has his eye on five players ahead of the trade deadline in case the Patriots are sellers this year.
• Karen Guregian issues her Week 5 Patriots report card: Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse ...
• Steve Balestrieri issues his Patriots Week 5 report card: David Andrews summed it up perfectly when he said, “Kind of the same old story.” Indeed it was. Wash-rinse-repeat.
• Phil Perry hands out his Report Cards: None of the Patriots’ offensive position groups passed the test in Week 5.
• Ian Logue’s Patriots Notebook: Bad time for a reboot, Numbers continue to be poor, Blame falling on Bill; More.
• Nick O’Malley collects all the dirt the national media is rubbing our noses in about the Pats in case we missed any.
• Locked On Patriots podcast: Mike D’Abate and Murph discuss Mac Jones future at QB, offense and defense struggles and Bill Belichick’s options for “starting over.” (39 min.)

NATIONAL NEWS

• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Bill Belichick: “I’m gonna do the best I can to help our football team.”
• Albert Breer (SI) NFL Week 5 Takeaways: Rival executives say Patriots ‘quite simply have no talent’; Plus, the league must be honest about artificial turf, veteran Saints dominate, Jaguars keep growing, 49ers cruise again and more.
• Conor Orr (SI) I admit I was wrong about the Patriots: Something is irreparably broken in New England, even if this writer didn’t see it yet in the preseason.
• Frank Schwab (Yahoo! Sports) NFL Winners and Losers: Patriots awful again as Bill Belichick’s nightmare season gets worse
• Gilberto Manzano (SI) Fact or Fiction: Patriots will lose double-digit games for first time in over 20 years.
• Judy Battista (NFL.com) Chaos conference: Examining the crowded field of a muddied AFC through five weeks.
• Albert Breer (SI) There’s hope for the Jets, and Zach Wilson, and Aaron Rodgers: With all the talent playing for Robert Saleh, New York fans shouldn’t be stunned with what we’re all seeing now.