The NFL just got harder… or easier…. or both.
The NFL got confusing. 24 hours after the New England Patriots failed to bring a trophy back to Boston, their coaching staff decided to explode. Not vocally, actually explode.
Both Bill Belichick’s offensive and defensive coordinators decided their time as an assistant is over and took head coaching jobs. Now, no one can tell if the NFL got harder, or if the best team in it got worse.
Josh McDaniels is headed for head coaching try number two. The Indianapolis Colt’s newest head coach will take on a team with hole after hole, but two of the brightest young quarterbacks in the game. A position on the field he’s proven he can work with.
Whether or not he actually turns this team around won’t be revealed for two or three years. Andrew Luck didn’t play a game last season, Frank Gore is 110-years-old and outside of TY Hilton, most NFL fans outside of Indianapolis probably can’t name more than five players.
Then, Matt Patricia finally took the leap and has begun his head coaching voyage. Is he’s going to pull it off? No idea, but with Belichick’s track record, you have to assume he’ll have some success.
He’s heading to Detroit. McDaniels probably would’ve gotten the better gig if he didn’t show up in Denver and give Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall away for a bag of rocks and three sticks.
So, McDaniels is going to try and rebuild the better-equivalent of the Cleveland Browns and Patricia is going to the Lions. A Matthew Stafford led, 9-7, a ton of young talent but arguably the worst coaching track record in the NFL.
This one can work out well. The defensive is going to thrive, obviously. With Stafford and the offense they have, there should be no less success scoring in 2018 than there was in 2017. If they finish building the offensive line in the offseason, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them compete for the NFC North next season.
Finally, the Patriots. Belichick and Tom Brady have dealt with no offensive coordinator before. Josh McDaniels is good, but maybe a little overhyped considering he has the greatest quarterback to ever play.
Losing Patricia could be a difference maker, though. For the last five years, New England has relied on the defensive genius of Patricia. Since 2004, he’s worked his way through almost every aspect of the Patriots’ coaching staff. During which, he’s learned just about every lesson one can from Belichick.
Maybe he’s not the x-factor of the Patriots, but he’s certainly learned enough to be the x-factor somewhere else. Which makes him dangerous. New England is losing a key piece to their success, which they may or may not replace.
They’ve done it before, and frankly, no one should be surprised if they do it again. But whether or not they’ll be able to again is going to remain a question until next season.
This could all be really bad for the rest of the NFL. Belichick’s little coaching seeds are spreading, and as Nick Saban has shown, it never turns out well for teams not receiving these coaches.
If Detroit becomes the powerhouse of the NFC and somehow Indy becomes a threat in the AFC, it’s just a departing gift from the most disliked human in football. What would make Bill Belichick happier than sitting back after 20 years of torturing fans than watching his two former assistance forming the next generation of football dominance.
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Hopefully none of this works out and all three teams finish 32, 31 and 30 in the standings next season. But it’s Bill and we all know he’s going to somehow make us dislike him on two teams he’s not even coaching.
So, thank you. Glad to see you’ve found a way to ruin our year three different ways. Appreciate it.