Bill Belichick has attracted some criticism despite the admirable effort his New England Patriots put up against last season’s Super Bowl runners-up, the Philadephia Eagles, on Sunday.
The Patriots lost their Week 1 fixture against Jalen Hurts and Co. at their Gillette Stadium, with the Eagles winning 25-20. And former Pats player Ted Johnson has gone in on the head coach in the wake of the home loss.
The critique comes as a result of Belichick defending his decision to go for a fourth-and-3 on the Eagles’ 17-yard line with 9:39 left in the fourth quarter instead of taking the field goal. The decision proved to be ill-advised as Mac Jones threw an incomplete pass and the Eagles regained possession of the football.
The possibility of the Pats kicking a game-winner would have still been alive had they gone for the points earlier on as a good field goal would have taken them to within two points on the scoreboard. But the turnover on downs left them trailing by five.
“I felt like it was the best decision for the team,” Belichick offered when speaking to reporters after the game.
“Made the best decision we could at the time,” he added. “Didn’t know we would be down there multiple times. Six minutes to go in the game. I don’t know. If we had kicked it, I’m sure you would be asking why didn’t we go for it.”
Johnson, though, wasn’t buying it.
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“It’s a cop-out,” he remarked. “He just gets away with saying it’s best for the team and doesn’t want to answer the question. He should answer that question.
“I mean, it just doesn’t make sense. I know you’ve got to be aggressive against Philly and maybe take your shot, but not at the end of games in critical situations…Just saying it was the best decision for the team — I don’t think that’s an acceptable answer.”
Bill’s position as the head coach of the Patriots was thought to be under threat during the offseason. It will be interesting to see what becomes of it if he’s unable to take the team to the playoffs this time around.
