The 2023 New England Patriots are an abject failure at nearly every level. Their quarterback disaster has been thoroughly covered by every outlet out there and, frankly, was not an entirely unexpected development. But the coaching problems that plague every aspect of the team has been far more surprising. Bill Belichick is supposed to have that area down pat. Yet sloppy and undisciplined football has been the name of the game for New England all season-- often compounded by bizarre time management decisions coming from the head honcho himself.
No singular play sums up that area of failure for this Patriots team than what happened near the end of the third quarter on Sunday. Facing off against the New York Giants, one of the few teams equally as bad this season, the Pats faced a fourth-and-one at their own 38-yard line with a minute to go. Belichick kept the offense out there, giving fans hope he might actually get aggressive and go for it in a tie game where yards are nigh impossible to come by due to the sheer ineptitude of everybody involved.
Of course, that is not what happened. Instead New England tried to draw the defense offsides with a bunch of weird motions and a hard count. This is standard practice. But then they called a timeout! And punted!
Why??? Just take the delay of game! Five extra yards to work with would actually be beneficial to the punter! Literally nothing was gained by calling the timeout. It was a complete waste.
That's what this year has been all about for New England. The decisions coming down from the top make very little sense and buck conventional football wisdom. It's shocking to see after two decades of Belichick winning games by doing the exact opposite. Just atrocious decision-making, week after week. And nobody knows what the hell the head coach was thinking because he treats the media like enemies of the state.
It's all so stupid. And so frustrating for people who like watching good football.
This article was originally published on thebiglead as Patriots' Mind-Numbing Season of Decision-Making Continues With Wasted Timeout in Third Quarter .