Albert Breer joined Patriots Pregame Live and shared potential offensive coordinator candidates for the Patriots if they part ways with Alex Van Pelt after this season. Plus, Phil Perry answered if the Patriots would even have interest for that position.
ORCHARD PARK, NY -- While Patriots coaches have come into the crosshairs from media and fans over the course of the last several weeks, recent opponents felt as though New England's primary issue was due to those wearing helmets on the sidelines, not headsets.
"The quarterback (Drake Maye) looks like the real deal," said one rival general manager. "He just needs a lot of help. Especially on the offensive line."
"The scheme defensively isn't bad," said one opposing offensive coordinator. "We've seen worse. Their problem is they have one good player (Christian Gonzalez). A bunch of those guys who've played good football for them in the past just aren't themselves right now."
That's not to excuse what the Patriots have put on the field from a preparation and game-management standpoint this season. Those fall on the coaches, specifically head coach Jerod Mayo, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington.
But with a roster that struggles to keep up with its opposition on a weekly basis from a talent standpoint, the coaching staff has had its hands full.
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Speaking to several sources around the league who have experience with hirings and firings at the head coach and coordinator level, for them, there are two paths that seem to make the most sense for the Patriots moving forward.
One would be to start over with an entirely new staff. The other would be to keep all three of Mayo, Covington and Van Pelt and allow them to try to get the team back to contention with a roster that should be able to improve this coming offseason.
The thinking in the latter scenario: Even if you have designs on swapping out coordinators and keeping Mayo, coveted options for those jobs could be hard to come by. If tethered to a head coach who could be on the hot seat in Year 2, with a roster that appears to still be in need of multiple offseasons of rebuilding, will the next coordinator (or coordinators) truly be set up for success?
Whatever ends up occurring with the staff, the roster will undergo real change in the months following the regular season. It'll have to in order to keep up with the Bills and others atop the AFC.
