Have Patriots Reached Out to Alabama Offensive Coordinator Bill O'Brien?
FOXBORO -- The New England Patriots have serious problems to solve, and they need serious people to solve them.
As the team continues to wallow in the mire of their 35-23 season-ending loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, the Pats have reportedly yet to become serious regarding hiring Alabama offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien.
At least ... not yet.
Per a Tuesday afternoon report from NBC Sports Boston's Tom E. Curran, the Patirots have yet to reach out to O'Brien, whose expiring contract with the Crimson Tide strongly suggests his impending return to the NFL.
With former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels taking his talents to the Las Vegas Raiders, O'Brien was considered to be the most logical choice to succeed him. Despite the blemishes on his head coaching resume in Houston, O’Brien helped navigate a Patriots offense, which featured ball protection, efficient running and spreading the ball to multiple pass catchers, including a fearsome two-tight-end-set of Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. O’Brien was thought to be the ideal coach to find similar success with New England’s current tight-end-tandem of Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith.
He also has familiarity with an offensive system designed to accentuate the abilities of quarterback Mac Jones. Having spent the past pair of seasons as Alabama’s offensive coordinator under head coach Nick Saban, O’Brien ran a similar scheme for the Crimson Tide in 2021. This, combined with his previous experience working under Belichick, would lessen his initiation period with New England.
Despite the strong logistical fit, O'Brien remained at Alabama, while New England chose to split the duties between special assistant and offensive line coach Matt Patricia, and quarterbacks coach Joe Judge -- with the former taking on the primary play calling duties for the offense.
The unit, including Jones, displayed notable regression from their 2021 output under the pair's guidance. The Pats finished 7th-worst in total yards while scoring only scored only 21.4 points per game (17th in the NFL). At times, the disconnect between the players and the coaching staff was so overt that Jones was observed hurling expletive-laden frustrations, believed to be in the direction of his coaches.
As such, it should come as no surprise that both coach Bill Belichick and team owner and CEO Robert Kraft have alluded to a significant, and comprehensive evaluation of the team's football operations in the wake of missing the playoffs for the second time in three seasons, and for just the fourth time in Belichick's 23 years at the helm.
Though many have speculated that hiring O'Brien to steer the Pats offensive ship back to its proper course would be priority one in Foxboro, contact between the two sides has yet to be made.
Of course, it should be noted that O'Brien may not be New England's only target for the potentially vacant position. Though it may be difficult to envision, the Pats may be contnet to maintain the status quo on the bench in favor of upgrading
Or, perhaps ... there's someone else?
When removing the Harlequin Romance Novel-like overtones from that statement, it is logical to consider that the Patriots may have interest in ex-Pats quarterback Kliff Kingsbury, who was fired by the Arizona Cardinals Monday morning. In spite of a down year in 2022, Kingsbury's Cardinals offense was both high-powered and innovative just one year prior, in which Arizona was ranked as the NFL's No. 11 scoring offense at 26.4 points per game.
While there have been no official staff changes from the Patriots - and Belichick declaring that he has 'every intention' to come back for his 24th season in 2023 - it is easy to imagine that the next few days will be anything but dull in southern New England.
Follow Mike D’Abate on Twitter @mdabateNFL and Listen/Subscribe to his daily podcast: Locked On Patriots
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