Former New England Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel is surprised with the openness coach Bill Belichick is allowing the team to show in regards to many of the issues they’re facing this season.
One such issue is trying to replace former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels with Matt Patricia as the new offensive play-caller. The team has also been working to implement a new offensive scheme within a unit still void of the play-making receivers that many of the other top teams in the AFC have on their roster.
Players have publicly expressed their concerns with the offense, which is a bit different from the buttoned-up teams of the past for the Patriots. In an article for NBC Boston, Cassel claimed Belichick would have addressed the comments by now.
“Open conversations are important to have. However, there’s a time and a place for them. It’s been strange for me to watch Kendrick Bourne, Jakobi Meyers and to some extent Mac Jones making comments about the offense throwing certain things out and shifting its philosophy. Bill Belichick knows everything. He knows these comments are being made. And the Bill that I know would address it immediately. I don’t know if there would be consequences, but it would be addressed. It wouldn’t be one of those things that would be left open for people to wonder about what the comments meant.”
Meyers openly admitted that he questioned what the game plan was sometimes for the Patriots, and Bourne talked about the team scrapping some of the offense that wasn’t working.
It’s a bit different from the days when the Patriots players were looked at as robots in the media for a head coach that kept a tight lid on everything.
But then again, Cassel hasn’t played for the Patriots in 14 years. Belichick isn’t 56 years old anymore. He’s a 70-year-old man with three more Super Bowl rings on his fingers since Cassel’s time in New England.
So of course he’s changed.
Whether that leads to eventual wins or more losses for this Patriots team remains to be seen.
