Bill Belichick, Aaron Hernandez, Scott Pioli and what needs to change with the Patriots
Probably the worst Patriot season in recent memory.
Even 2008 wasn't as bad. At least in 2008 the team had an excuse for failing to meet expectations. There was no Tom Brady.
After the shock of seeing Brady keeled over on the ground in the first game of that season wore off, it became a pretty entertaining year. Who thought we would be watching Matt Cassel defy the odds and lead the team into playoff contention? It wasn't expected that the Patriots would do well, and that's what made it so fun when they did.
Yet, a year later. All those expectations changed when Brady came back. What did the team do? They fell flat. Who could've predicted that that team with Tom Brady back at the helm would finish with a record even worse (10-6) than the year before with Cassel (11-5).
Of course, the Patriots actually made it into the playoffs that year, but suffered their most humiliating defeat to date. A 33-14 beat down, at home no less, in which Tom Brady hit the ground three times, threw three interceptions and even fumbled. After fourth and 2, Joey Galloway, the overtime loss to Josh McDaniel's Broncos, the beatdown by the Saints on Monday Night Football, that was a season to forget.
Of course, much of the press before that season focused on Tom Brady returning, but it was in that offseason that they suffered two major losses - McDaniels and Scott Pioli. The McDaniels loss, maybe wasn't felt so hard. Bill O'Brien did an admirable job filling in as offensive coordinator, and McDaniels has since returned to the team.
Bill Belichick is in charge of the personnel on this team, he has Nick Caserio and a whole team at his disposal, but ultimately the decisions made are his to own up to. According to Sports Illustrated's Peter King, there isn't anyone quite like Pioli to keep him in check anymore.
ProFootballTalk:
Pioli’s run in Kansas City might not have gone as planned (leading to his new role with NBC). But when in New England, he and Belichick worked well together, and Pioli was willing at times to question the coach.
“But there’s no one there with Scott’s balls anymore,” a source with knowledge of the Patriots inner workings told King. “Bill needs someone to challenge him, and I don’t think he has that now.”
Can we say unequivocally that Scott Pioli would have advised against drafting players like Alfonzo Dennard or Aaron Hernandez? Of course not. However, it seems that Belichick doesn't exactly have many on his staff to challenge him on anything. It goes beyond just mistakes like Aaron Hernandez, and potentially Dennard. The biggest issue with this team, year in and year out since 2009, has been the defensive backs.
Every Fall for the past three years, Belichick has come under fire for his inability to draft cornerbacks or safetys. Since Pioli left, these are the names of the defensive backs that Belichick has picked (not including this year's draft): Patrick Chung, Darius Butler, Devin McCourty, Ras-I Dowling, Malcolm Williams, Nate Ebner, Alfonzo Dennard.
McCouty is by far the most successful of the bunch but has been forced to move to safety because he has, at times, seemed to be a liability at corner. Could a voice challenging Bill in the draft room have been useful when he was, say, trying to pick up all of Rutger's roster this year? I'd have to think the answer is yes.
Belichick is one of, if not the, greatest coaches of all time. However, even the greats need their ideas to be questioned, discussed and fleshed out. Bill's three super bowl rings from last decade shouldn't give him the power to make every decision with no opposition.
It's not Belichick's fault that Aaron Hernandez turned out to possibly be a murderer. We've heard plenty of teams come out saying they had Hernandez off their draft board. Good for them. I don't think the Patriots should be blamed for drafting the guy though. As many teams that might claim they had him off their board, just as many still had him on it.
The problem, however, is that maybe there should've been some more backlash in that front office when the team moved to sign Hernandez to that lucrative contract. They obviously knew about the drugs, the violence and the gang affiliations. We know that much.
We also know that Hernandez's had not distanced himself from those elements of his life. Still, Belichick moved to sign Hernandez anyway, without any further investigation to how he was living his life away from the stadium.
Would a man that let something like that slip by last long at his job if he didn't have the repertoire Belichick has? Probably not.
It's a mistake that has cost this team dearly. They'll be able to move on without Hernandez on the field, but their reputation may never recover.
