After a rough 8-9 season that ended with the Patriots hiring an actual offensive coordinator in Bill O’Brien, the Boston Herald decided to throw salt on the occasion by publishing a story that dove into the dysfunction of the team behind closed doors.
The Joe Judge issue in New England appears to be a lot worse than many could even imagine. Judge, who rejoined Bill Belichick’s staff in February, had a bad relationship with Belichick and Patriots quarterback Mac Jones, according to a scathing report by the Boston Herald.
“As [Matt] Patricia came under outside fire as the face of the offense, Judge drew increasing criticism from within,” the outlet’s Andrew Callahan wrote, citing “sources inside and around the organization who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from the Patriots.”
“Belichick would blast him in practice, and it wasn’t uncommon for Judge and Jones to trade profanity-laced outbursts. Jones’ trust in his position coach was effectively non-existent,” a source said, adding that Jones didn’t like Judge “at all.”
The report goes on to explain that Judge’s demeanor in meetings wasn’t received well.
“[Judge] would speak extra loudly in meetings, trying to project like he was the guy,” another source said. “And I think that kind of rubbed people the wrong way.”
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Patricia just completed his first season as New England’s offensive coordinator as the team missed out on the postseason following a season-ending loss to the Bills. They finished 8-9 and third in the AFC East. The offense had been a struggle many times this year as Jones showed his frustration about it on the field several times.
He even yelled f-bombs on the field and completely dismissed Patricia at times as the offense regressed.
On Thursday, the Patriots announced Bill O’Brien as their new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, but we are still unsure about Judge and Patricia’s roles with the team moving forward.
The Giants fired Judge last January after two losing seasons in which New York went 10-23. There is no word on what his future will be with the team after Jones regressed in his second year.
