Bill Belichick’s 7 worst decisions of the 2015 season
COMMENTARY
Nothing was worse than the Colts’ swinging gate play. That was an abomination, a “complete cluster,’’ as Colts punter Pat McAfee said.
But the Patriots had their fair share of gaffes during the 2015 season. Bill Belichick has always made questionable decisions — he experiments, takes risks, and occasionally does unprecedented things.
Sometimes, the experiments blow up in his face.
This season, his gutsy calls have turned out for better and worse. Here are his ugliest decisions of the 2015 season.
Week 2 vs. Bills: Throwing the ball in the fourth quarter with a 37-25 lead
The Patriots had just recovered the Bills’ onside kick attempt with 4:41 left in the game. On 2nd-and-2, Tom Brady dropped back to pass. Keep in mind, LeGarrette Blount was still healthy. Dion Lewis was still healthy. But the Patriots elected to pass.
The result was a sack fumble, and two plays later, the Bills scored a touchdown, bringing the score to 37-32. The Patriots responded by extending their lead, and won, 40-32. The narrative after the game was that “It wasn’t even that close.’’ But it was, because of the fumble.
Had a few plays gone the Bills’ way, the decision to throw would not just have been a head-scratcher, it wouldn’t been a disaster.
Week 3 vs. Jaguars: Letting Brady drive down the field with a 44-10 lead
The game was over. It was basically done in the first half.
Why send Brady into the game with a 34-point lead? Is the “Middle Finger Tour’’ worth losing Brady to injury? With 16 games of separation, Deflategate is the least of the injury-riddled Patriots’ worries.
Brady drove down the field, throwing the ball twice and handing it off three times (a job Jimmy Garoppolo is no doubt capable of), and the Patriots scored another touchdown.
Phew, the Patriots made it to 50 points.
It’s unwise to tempt the football fates. Exhibit A: Brady’s ankle injury in Week 17. Oh yes, we’re getting to the blunder that was Week 17 against the Dolphins.
Week 12 vs. Broncos: Allowing Chris Harper to return a punt
Patriots wide receiver Chris Harper was a known entity by the time he went back to return a punt with a 21-7 lead in the fourth quarter. He stood out in preseason as a reliable slot receiver, and, apparently, the Patriots were comfortable with him fielding a punt.
Two reliable punt returners Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola were inactive. Harper had caught two punts earlier in the game, then the Patriots went to Patrick Chung, only to return to Harper. When sending Harper in, a coach should have emphasized the 14-point lead, and advised him not to return the ball. But the rookie’s inexperience appeared to lead to a bad decision — and a costly mistake.
It proved foolish to use a former practice squad player with limited punt return experience (he returned 19 in college) at such an important moment.
Week 13 vs. Eagles: Calling a Nate Ebner drop kick
Had this play gone right — and it almost did — Belichick would have been praised as a football savant. It would have been another bullet-point on his bar-conversation resume: “Remember when Bill used a rugby player to trick Chip Kelly’s Eagles with an onside kick? Genius.’’
But that doesn’t make a good decision. It was an ugly decision. And it didn’t work.
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Week 16 and 17: Kneeing going into the half
The beauty of electing to kick at the start of the game, as Belichick is wont to do, is delivering the blow of a double-score, where the Patriots — or any other team — sneak in points before the end of the first half and then open the second half with another score.
It steals momentum, provides opportunity for a comeback, or flattens the opponent’s confidence.
Given that opportunity against the Jets and Dolphins, the Patriots decided to knee the ball. Against the Jets, the Patriots had 1:57. Against the Dolphins, the Patriots had a little over 0:36 and three timeouts (which should have been enough for a field goal).
In both instances, the Patriots appeared to want to get out of the first half to make their second half adjustments. And while, in both games, they scored more points in the second half, they still lost both games — which makes the decision to forgo the opportunity to score points questionable, at best.
Week 16 vs. Jets: Deferring the ball in overtime
Give the ball to Tom Brady. He had just driven 66 yards to tie the game. Give the ball back to Brady.
Belichick says he isn’t into analytics — and empirically it wasn’t a completely atrocious decision — but logic says, on a crisp night without wind, you don’t defer when you have Brady and Rob Gronkowski.
But they kicked. Their secondary broke down for big plays, and Eric Decker scored one of his 12 touchdowns on the season. Brady and Gronk never saw the field.
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Week 17 vs. Dolphins: Did anything go right?
The Patriots had to run the ball until they picked up two first downs, Nate Ebner said after the game.
What is this, preseason? Why not go full-preseason, and play Jimmy Garoppolo? He knows how to hand the ball off to Steven Jackson. Garoppolo could probably handle the 21 handoffs and five passes for three points in the first half.
The Patriots appeared to have three mindsets during the game, sometimes employing all at once. First, they wanted to preserve the health of the starters like Brady and Gronkowski. Second, they wanted to run the ball. Third, they wanted to win — which seemed to undermine the first and second mindsets. So when running the ball and preserving the health of starters didn’t work, they abandoned those mindsets for the sake of winning the game. Brady ended up with a 300-pound pass-rusher on the back of his legs. And their attempt at winning seemed feeble. So when they felt they couldn’t overcome a 10-point deficit, they abandoned the winning mindset, too.
Bill Belichick wasn’t even wearing his headset when Garoppolo entered the game in the fourth quarter.
Bill Belichick’s not mad; this is just his RBF
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