Life Without Belichick: What Could Robert Kraft Do? | Bedard & Cattles Discuss - video Dailymotion

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Greg Bedard and Nick Cattles discuss what Robert Kraft's plan may be moving forward after yet another loss for the Patriots. Something has to change, and Greg may know just what that is.    Check Greg's Coverage out over at www.bostonsportsjournal.com, for $50 on BSJ's annual plan. Not only do you get top-notch analysis of all the Boston pro sports, but if you're a Patriots junkie — and if you're listening to this podcast, you are — then a membership at BSJ gives you access to a ton of video analysis Bedard does on the coaches film, and direct access to him in weekly chats.  This episode of the Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast w/ Nick Cattles is brought to you by:  Fanduel Sportsbook, the exclusive wagering parter of the CLNS Media NetworkRight now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! So, visit https://FanDuel.com/BOSTON and kick off the NFL season. FanDuel, Official Partner of the NFL. 21+ and present in MA. Hope is here. First online real money wager only. $5 pregame moneyline wager required. First online real money wager only. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. GamblingHelpLineMa.org or call (800)-327-5050 for 24/7 support. Play it smart from the start! GameSenseMA.com or call 1-800-GAM-1234.  ODDS-R! Ever wished you could navigate the betting field with the confidence of a pro? Enter OddsR. They're not a sportsbook, but they're the sports betting advisor you've always needed. It's like having a playbook for smarter bets right in your pocket. Go get it at https://oddsr.com/BEDARD  Visit https://factormeals.com/BEDARD50 to get 50% off your first box! Factor is America’s #1 Ready-To-Eat Meal Kit, can help you fuel up fast with ready-to-eat meals delivered straight to your door.

Transcript

00:00 You've seen a lot in this league.

00:01 You've covered multiple teams, you've done national work,

00:04 you've seen a lot of different rebuilds,

00:06 you've seen teams collapse, you've seen it all.

00:09 And I know you wrote a piece over the weekend,

00:11 and I read it from beginning to end,

00:15 about Kraft and kind of the plan moving forward

00:17 and what the Patriots should do now

00:20 as they look at this situation.

00:22 And I wanna go question by question here,

00:24 but the first thing I will ask you was not really,

00:26 I don't think it was part of your story,

00:28 but I just want your thoughts on this

00:29 because I actually just did a podcast on this today.

00:33 If you're the Patriots,

00:35 and I know Tony Mazz wrote about this

00:37 in '95, the sports hub as well,

00:39 do you just fire Belichick right now?

00:42 And we've gone through, and what I don't wanna do

00:44 is I don't wanna look at this with sentimental value.

00:47 Because we've talked about, you know,

00:49 Kraft won't fire him because of the respect factor,

00:51 blah, blah, blah.

00:52 Just look at it from a football standpoint.

00:54 Should they just fire Belichick right now

00:57 and get over this leap show that we're witnessing?

01:02 - So setting aside the respect factor,

01:08 which you, you know, alluded to,

01:10 as far as what I am seeing on the field,

01:13 should the coach be fired?

01:15 And based off my history covering the league,

01:18 no, he should not.

01:19 They're still playing very hard.

01:21 The defense is playing well.

01:24 The punt team had a good game against the Giants on Sunday.

01:28 The offense is just completely broken

01:33 at this point from head to toe.

01:35 They can't, they don't know what direction they're going.

01:39 So just to answer that question,

01:44 I would not fire Belichick just based on

01:47 what I am seeing on the field.

01:49 - All right, next question.

01:51 Whether now or later, Greg,

01:53 we all pretty much believe at this point that Bill's gone.

01:56 Who should Kraft start talking to right now?

01:59 The phone calls he should be making right now.

02:01 - He should, if he hasn't already,

02:05 and maybe you sit back and let things play out,

02:08 because you never know,

02:09 they could have won their last seven games of the season

02:11 and finished nine and eight on an upswing.

02:13 But I think by now,

02:15 they are now assured of their third losing season

02:18 in four years.

02:20 They will finish with a losing record.

02:21 They have nine losses now.

02:23 It's set that this team is now,

02:26 it's just a matter of, is it two wins?

02:28 Is it three, four, five wins or whatever?

02:31 The Krafts should be on the phone

02:34 or actually just visiting, having coffee, what have you,

02:39 considering some of them are back in the area at this point.

02:42 But anybody who has worked for the Patriots,

02:46 especially that were here during the heyday of the Patriots

02:49 and the heyday of Belichick,

02:51 they should be talking to these people.

02:53 They should be asking them the tough questions.

02:55 They should be, let's just say,

02:57 Josh McDaniels is back in the area.

02:59 He's right here.

03:01 He was here from the, basically,

03:04 I think all the Super Bowl titles,

03:05 if I'm not mistaken, I think that's correct.

03:08 But he's seen a lot.

03:11 He's been a head coach twice.

03:13 He understands his limitations.

03:15 He understands he's worked,

03:17 he's been the offensive coordinator for Bill.

03:19 He understands better than anybody

03:22 the issues with the team, the blind spots,

03:25 things like that.

03:26 Josh McDaniels, John Robinson, who was fired in Tennessee,

03:30 Thomas Dimitrov, who was a general manager on his own.

03:35 I don't know if I would go back to Scott Pioli.

03:37 That's a guy who's pretty loyal to Belichick,

03:40 but maybe you check in with him.

03:42 But basically you go on a fact-finding mission

03:44 to guys that know the building,

03:46 who still talk to people in the building.

03:48 Bob Quinn, who was fired in Detroit.

03:51 Kevin Anderson, who was with Patricia in Detroit,

03:55 stayed on there as sort of the Bears Nigerian.

03:58 There's a bunch of guys out there

03:59 who aren't working right now

04:01 who used to work with the Patriots.

04:02 You go to them and you ask them all the hard questions.

04:06 Where are we coming up short?

04:08 Why do you think things have fallen here?

04:10 What would you do?

04:12 How would you align things?

04:14 What do you think of the coaching candidates

04:16 that are out there?

04:17 Any coaching candidates that we should be thinking of?

04:20 What's the role in personnel?

04:21 Who should be running personnel?

04:23 What kind of offensive system should we be running?

04:27 What do you think of Gerard Mayo as a head coach?

04:29 What do you think of all these?

04:30 They should be going on a fact-finding mission right now

04:33 so that they arm themselves with the,

04:36 get objective views on like, where is this program?

04:40 They're not football experts.

04:42 They leave that up to Belichick.

04:44 They leave that up to their head coaches.

04:46 Go to these guys who have worked in the league,

04:48 who have had a lot of responsibility

04:50 and ask them where this franchise has come up short

04:53 and what they think the crafts should do going forward.

04:58 And then sort of that starts your decision-making process

05:01 as we get towards the end of the season.

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05:19 - As far as the decision-making process

05:22 and vetting all of those people, so to speak,

05:25 once you get to the point

05:27 where you're gonna move on from Belichick,

05:29 how wide of a net are you casting

05:31 if you're the crafts for both positions,

05:33 for the head coach position and the GM position?

05:36 - Huge.

05:37 I mean, they're the New England Patriots.

05:40 Six Super Bowl titles, the banners are up there.

05:44 Say what you want about the crafts or what have you,

05:46 this is viewed as a crown jewel franchise in the NFL.

05:51 It's a plum job.

05:52 I mean, do people wanna follow Bill Belichick?

05:54 No, probably not.

05:56 But still, there should be enough of an opportunity.

05:59 They should be talking to,

06:01 once they talk to these people, compile a list.

06:03 Who are the top five GM candidates?

06:06 Who are the top five head coaching candidates in the league?

06:09 And they should immediately move

06:11 to talk to all of those people

06:12 and asking them the same question.

06:14 When you get to this point,

06:16 when you are looking for a new coach,

06:18 general manager, what have you,

06:20 this is a chance to gain a valuable insight

06:26 on your franchise and where it is, where the NFL is going.

06:30 They should be asking all of these people

06:34 where they have come up short.

06:35 Where is the NFL going?

06:36 How much offense?

06:37 How much defense?

06:39 Where do you think this league's gonna be in 10 years?

06:42 Who are the people that can get us there?

06:44 Who can be forward thinking?

06:45 Things like that.

06:46 I don't care what you promise Gerard Mayo.

06:50 You cannot conduct this thing.

06:52 This is the whole future of the franchise.

06:54 You can't conduct it like Bill Belichick

06:58 looking for an offensive coordinator

06:59 and an offensive line coach

07:01 when you basically don't bring in anybody else.

07:04 That Bill O'Brien is the only offensive coordinator.

07:06 Adrian Clems the only offensive line coach.

07:08 That's part of the reason

07:10 why this has been run into the ground.

07:12 That Bill doesn't look outside.

07:14 He doesn't entertain new options.

07:16 The crafts have to go into this with a blank slate.

07:18 Maybe they still arrive at Gerard Mayo.

07:20 That could very well be the case.

07:22 But at the least you need to go out

07:25 and you need to find out what else is going on in the league

07:28 because things have been done here the same way for so long

07:31 and they're in the stone ages in a lot of ways.

07:33 Cap management, personnel, offense,

07:37 where is all of this going in the NFL?

07:39 And you need to find out from these people.

07:41 - All right, so you've done the vetting,

07:42 you've casted the wide net.

07:44 How critical is it for the Patriots

07:46 to align the two positions?

07:48 Once you make a decision on one of them,

07:51 how critical is it to make sure these guys

07:54 or guy and woman in front office that they're aligned

07:57 and they have the same vision

07:59 and they're walking into this thing

08:01 as a happy union so to speak?

08:03 - Huge.

08:04 To me, this is the number one reason

08:07 why franchises fail in this league.

08:10 That owners either fall in love with a coach

08:14 and then hire a GM that's maybe a rising star

08:17 and they do these shotgun manages.

08:19 It goes down in flames almost all the time.

08:21 I mean, look at Vrabel in Tennessee.

08:23 He was aligned with John Robinson.

08:25 There was some issues.

08:27 They both sort of saw things the same way.

08:29 They fired John Robinson

08:31 and now they bring in Rand Carthon from the 49ers

08:34 and look, Rand's a great guy, okay?

08:37 Everybody loves Rand in the league.

08:39 He was certainly a top candidate

08:42 but he and Vrabel have no background.

08:45 They haven't worked together.

08:46 They didn't come up the same way.

08:48 They don't see things the same way

08:50 and that can lead to issues.

08:52 Look at anything with the Jets.

08:54 John Idzik when he was there with who the hell knows

08:57 who the head coaches were back then with the Jets.

09:00 All of these terrible matchups,

09:03 marriages between head coaches and GMs,

09:06 they fail because these people don't have a background.

09:08 I thought the Patriots got it right

09:10 where with Belichick is that you need to pick

09:14 one of two ways if you're going forward as a franchise.

09:18 You either need the strong head coach

09:20 and he vets the GM, the personnel guys,

09:25 the guys that are gonna do that,

09:26 that he picks a guy that he finds that he's aligned with,

09:29 you link them up together, okay?

09:31 Or you pick the strong GM like say Howie Roseman

09:36 in Philadelphia where he's in charge of picking the players.

09:41 He hires the head coach along with the owner Jeffrey Lurie.

09:45 It's one of two ways.

09:46 It's gotta be the strong GM or the strong head coach

09:52 and so far they've been a strong head coach.

09:55 Is that the right thing to do?

09:56 I don't know but you need to go out

09:57 and you need to talk to say Adam Peters

09:59 who is second in command and personnel with the 49ers

10:02 who used to be here, who is a rising star,

10:05 who's ready to run his own department

10:06 and see what he has to say.

10:08 You know, if you interview all these guys,

10:11 head coaches and GMs, whoever you think is the best person,

10:15 whether that's a GM or a head coach,

10:18 you say that's the guy that we want to run our organization.

10:22 You hire them and then you empower them

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10:58 - All right, let's say that the GM's hired,

10:59 the head coach is hired and that head coach is Gerard Mayo.

11:02 How much concern should there be about Mayo's

11:04 assumed limited Rolodex,

11:07 since he's really only been in New England

11:08 through his NFL career?

11:10 - It's huge.

11:11 It's something that I've heard talking to NFL people

11:14 around the Patriots, around the league about like,

11:16 you know, I've been talking to people about what's next

11:18 because that's everything with the Patriots right now.

11:21 Is it Mayo?

11:22 Is it somebody else?

11:24 You know, I need to do more research

11:26 on sort of the positive aspects of Mayo.

11:29 Some of his prior interviews and things like that.

11:32 I have more work to do there.

11:33 But one thing I have heard from a lot of people,

11:36 and these are mostly people that are connected

11:39 to the Patriots in some way, either now or in the past.

11:43 If it's him and they almost universally think

11:47 it's gonna be Gerard Mayo, they're all like,

11:49 well, what's his coaching staff gonna look like?

11:51 I mean, he was only a player with the Patriots.

11:53 He's only been a coach with the Patriots.

11:56 Is he going to keep everybody?

11:58 Is he going to keep everything in place

12:00 and we're just swapping out Bill Belichick for Gerard Mayo?

12:05 I don't know how many people would sign up for that.

12:07 I mean, a lot of people are concerned

12:10 and the crafts need to go to Mayo and be like,

12:12 okay, if you're the guy, what's your vision for this team?

12:16 What are we gonna run with offense?

12:18 I assume it's gonna be Billy O'Brien, but I don't know.

12:21 Maybe he has other options or other visions

12:25 as far as I wanna run a Kyle Shanahan scheme.

12:27 Okay, fine, you hire one of those guys.

12:29 What happens if that guy gets a head coaching job?

12:31 Now what are you gonna do?

12:32 Like, what's your plan for everything?

12:34 But a lot of people are fearful

12:36 that Gerard Mayo doesn't know anybody in the league

12:39 and that's rough.

12:42 So they are expecting, his agent is Sean Kiernan.

12:46 He's a well-respected veteran agent,

12:48 has a lot of coaches, GMs, things like that.

12:51 Rand Carthon is one of the guys he has.

12:53 Brian Flores, I think is one of the guys he has.

12:55 He also works for Athletes First,

12:59 which is one of the largest agencies in the NFL.

13:01 They rep a lot of coaches and front office people.

13:03 And so I think that Gerard Mayo,

13:07 probably in the last month of it,

13:08 looks like he needs to start getting his ducks in a row

13:11 as well, talking to people as far as,

13:14 will you come on my staff?

13:15 Who should I talk to?

13:16 All of those things, because you can't just come back

13:19 with the same coaching staff.

13:21 You have to have ideas about how to improve things

13:26 or else what's the point?

13:28 - So you said Bill O'Brien might be the guy

13:31 to be the OC for Mayo.

13:33 Should O'Brien be back after what we've witnessed this year?

13:36 - I wanna say yes, Nick.

13:41 I have a lot of respect for Billy O'Brien.

13:43 I think he's really good.

13:44 I think, I'll just say, they need to figure out,

13:49 they need to get to the bottom line.

13:50 And this comes from talking to people like Joshua Daniels

13:54 or Mick Lombardi or whoever's been here.

13:58 You need to find out, you need to dial in.

14:03 Before you can move forward,

14:04 you need to find out how did we get here?

14:07 What were the problems?

14:08 What were the missteps?

14:09 How do we correct them?

14:11 And I think I have a feeling that most of the people

14:15 will be like, Billy knows what he's doing.

14:17 Like you just have to empower him.

14:20 Let him go out and he picks the coaches.

14:23 Whoever's going under him, like Billy O'Brien gets to do it.

14:28 I mean, if he wants Mike Devlin,

14:31 who is his line coach with the Texans,

14:33 who I think is assistant offensive line coach

14:35 with the Jets now.

14:36 I don't know, I haven't keep him track.

14:38 But if Billy O'Brien wants him to run his offensive line

14:41 because they know how to work together,

14:43 they know without, Billy doesn't need to tell him

14:46 every single thing, then let him go hire that.

14:49 Don't bring in Adrian Clem,

14:50 who I haven't heard great reviews about.

14:54 And so, I don't know.

14:57 I mean, I think the crafts want Billy O'Brien here.

15:01 I think they see a marriage of Gerard Mayo and Billy O'Brien

15:03 and you can make the case that that makes a lot of sense

15:06 because I don't think O'Brien is going anywhere anytime soon

15:10 and would like to stay put and that helps Mayo.

15:13 And then Mayo needs to tell him,

15:15 well, you need to hire a real quarterbacks coach,

15:17 not Evan Rothstein.

15:18 A real quarterbacks coach

15:20 who can actually coach the quarterback,

15:22 has played the position, has coached the position

15:25 and that you can train in case you leave

15:27 for a head coaching job at some point,

15:29 just like Josh McDaniel succeeded Charlie Weiss,

15:32 that whole thing.

15:33 They need to get back into that, the whole thing.

15:34 But if it's Billy O'Brien and I think,

15:36 probably he should stay.

15:40 It probably is the best alignment for the Patriots

15:42 if it's Gerard Mayo,

15:43 but please let him hire his own offensive coaching staff.

15:47 - Evan Rothstein catching strays from Bidar today.

15:50 All right, so if it's not Mayo,

15:52 but the Patriots like the idea of a former Patriot,

15:57 they like the idea of a defensive mind being the guy.

16:00 You wrote about Mike Vrabel over the last few days,

16:04 very interesting stuff from you on Vrabel.

16:07 Two-part question, I know we hate two-part questions,

16:09 but it is what it is.

16:10 We're getting shorter on time here.

16:11 A, should the Patriots approach Vrabel?

16:13 B, how high on the list would he be?

16:15 - From what I understand and the genesis of this is,

16:21 I'm talking to a bunch of players, people,

16:24 like I said, about the future of the Patriots.

16:26 What's next?

16:27 What are their options in trying to uncover everything

16:31 that I can?

16:32 And one of the questions I have asked is,

16:34 do you think Vrabel's an option for the Patriots?

16:37 And nearly universally, the response I got was yes.

16:42 Now, do I think it's a great chance

16:47 that he's even available?

16:49 No.

16:50 I think a lot of people were curious about his quote

16:53 at halftime about how he said, enjoy it.

16:57 It's not like this everywhere.

17:00 This is how this is a special place,

17:01 things like that.

17:02 We all saw Kraft and Vrabel in the owner's box

17:05 talking during the first half of that game.

17:08 Who knows what they were talking about?

17:10 I know some people talked with Vrabel when he was here.

17:13 I think there's a sense,

17:15 the way things have gone in Nashville with the Titans,

17:20 that Vrabel might, I'm not saying he definitely is,

17:24 but I think he could be open to listening

17:27 to other possibilities.

17:28 Now, I think the owner loves Vrabel.

17:32 I think part of firing John Robinson was empowering Vrabel,

17:36 pairing him with Rand Carthon.

17:40 Did that necessarily do that?

17:42 I'm not sure.

17:44 After working with Rand for a while,

17:46 does Vrabel like the direction, the pairing with Carthon?

17:52 I can't tell you for sure.

17:54 I know there's some scuttlebutt about like how

17:57 Vrabel's sort of not sure if that's the place

18:01 for him anymore.

18:02 His kids are older.

18:03 He can move if he wants.

18:05 How many times is the Patriots head coaching job

18:08 going to become available?

18:10 Is he afraid of following Belichick?

18:12 I think anybody who's ever followed Mike Vrabel

18:14 in his career knows he's not afraid of anything.

18:17 We know how the Krafts feel about Vrabel.

18:22 So I think it's a small chance,

18:25 but if I'm the Krafts, I give a call to the Titans

18:29 and saying like, "Hey, can we talk to Mike?"

18:32 Just to see.

18:34 I mean, if you're hiring a successor for Bill Belichick,

18:37 you can't afford to leave any bullets in the chamber.

18:40 (upbeat music)

18:43 (upbeat music)

18:45 (upbeat music)

18:48 (upbeat music)

18:51 (upbeat music)

Life Without Belichick: What Could Robert Kraft Do? | Bedard & Cattles Discuss

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