The Patriots' tenets for success and how so many of them are not adhered to by Monti Ossenfort, once a 14-year employee in Foxborough
By Walter Mitchell
Q & A today on X.
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Do you think they will entertain moving on from Monti after 3 years?
Yes, Steven. Monti's decision making has been totally mystifying. How could he possibly think he could compete in the NFC West against iconic head coaches with veteran staffs by hiring the youngest, most inexperienced staff in the NFL with no senior advisors?
Hiring an underqualified head coach who can't make in-game adjustments and simply delegates all of the real in-game coaching to his young coordinators, who also, quite understandably given their lack of experience, have had a rough time making in-game adjustments. And the one clear home run coach Monti hired, Klayton Adams, was able to leave the organization without the GM having the prescience to promote him before the Cowboys or anyone else could get their hands on him.
Meanwhile, nothing Gannon has done has taught the team how to finish. His defense doesn't even prioritize tackling (Gannon does not choose to practice it), let alone finish tackles well. Monti and Gannon hitched their wagon to Kyler Murray (knowing that the locker room was greatly disturbed and demoralized by Kyler's antics and the contract he was gifted undeservingly in 2022).
Then Monti skewed his drafts passing on the likes of Will Anderson Jr., Brian Branch, Jared Verse, etc. to "make Kyler comfortable" ---and that has backfired. Some will say Bidwill made Monti and Gannon cater to Kyler, but that in itself is a disqualifier. if the GM and HC can't be their own men, then they're not the guys for the job.
Plus, the drafting of injured players who are still injured (what in the world is going on with Ojulari?), overpaying for mid free agents (what is going on with Bilal Nichols and Justin Jones?) and employing a strength and conditioning staff that two years in a row managed to lose two 1st round draft picks to calf injuries, which is unfathomable.
It defies all logic that Monti worked under Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick for 14 years and apparently didn't learn the basic tenets of their secrets to success. And now the team's long sellout success is a thing of the past and State Farm is and remains a haven for hordes of opposing fans.
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Could you share the basic tenets of Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick's secrets to success?
Most of former Patriots GMs/HCs, like Bill O'Brien, Matt Patricia, and Dave Ziegler, failed.
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Patriots' tenets for success:
1. No days off.
2. Use pre-season games to build team chemistry and to get players in football shape to start the season.
3. Build the roster from the inside out.
4. Hire a mix of veteran coaches and young coaches to groom.
5. Don't let other teams poach your best coaches by giving them promotions and attractive raises (like OLC Dante Scarnecchia).
6. When veteran players are on the verge of declining, trade them or let them go.
7. Create defensive game plans that aggressively confuse and pressure the opposing QB, with schemes that are committed to applying sticky pass coverage on the second and third levels and when necessary, applying double teams on top receivers.
8. Exploit teams on offense by attacking the middle of the field with TEs, slot WRs and RBs, often in three waves, TE Option 1, slot WR Option 2, RB Option 3. They believe that having consistent success over the middle on offense was a significant key to winning games.
9. Have the QB use and manipulate the pocket to create clear passing lanes and to step up into and climb the pocket when edges get close.
10. Employ an aggressive running game using RBs by committee in order to keep them fresh and strong.
Bill O'Brien (52-48) with the Texans won 4 AFC South titles in his 6 full seasons. 9-7, 9-7, 9-7, 4-12, 11-5, 10-6. Mike Vrabel (58-47, 2 x AFC South champs, NFL Coach of the Year 2021) and Brian Flores (24-25, 19-14 in years 2 and 3) deserve plaudits. Other former Patriots coaches like Josh McDaniels and Matt Patricia did not fare as well, but they didn't appear to have the charisma and gravitas as the others.
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Replying to @sugi_cards and @WBJMItch
Bill O'Brien, Mike Vrable and Brian Flores, all Belichick disciples, have acquitted themselves well. Josh McDaniels and Matt Patricia not so much. To say it was "all Brady" is not fair. The offensive schemes and the players they developed that fit those schemes extremely well made it a team and organizational effort. Tom Brady would tell you that in earnest himself.
Are you too mystified at Monti Ossenfort's lack of adherence to the Patriots' tenets for success?
As far as hiring an underqualified head coach goes, I don't think any successful experienced coaches wanted the head coaching position in Arizona. When Sean Payton met with MB, I bet MB told SP that he needs to build around KM and SP said thanks but no thanks. BA was the most qualified HC this team has seen in a long time and the only reason he took the job was because he had no other offers for HC. The reason MB and SK hired K2 was because they were trying to get an up-and-coming HC. This team does not attract qualified coaches. This team attracts unqualified coaches looking for experience and a paycheck.
ReplyDeleteYes, but at least BA hired Todd Bowles as DC and brought in Tom Moore as senior offensive advisor. With Kliff came Tom Clements and Jerry Sullivan with an experienced DC in Vance Joseph. I would have liked to have heard how Dan Quinn's second interview went. They should have pounced on Quinn with no quid pro quos. What a whiff. Look who DQ brought with him to Washington.
DeleteI agree. Even this team could have hired more experienced coaches than who they hired.
DeleteGreat answers Walt and I agree MO should be fired if his iteration of the Impending Cardinal Rebuild takes a big step backwards and regresses to below .500 W/L.
ReplyDeleteBidwill who's always wrong about everything hates to admit his recidivism of mistakes and failures so he might give everyone another chance to disappoint and piss off his shrinking base of uninterested fans.
My exact same concern is Mikey not wanting to admit he whiffed on Monti and kicking the can down the road towards another year or two of further futility. Seems that outcome is all but a certainty haha
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThings I know:
ReplyDelete1. I didn't like the process of MO hiring a head coach. It seemed to involve a lot of interviews being set up and held with candidates we were never going to hire (e.g. Flores), which generated bad will, and candidates that were never going to choose us (e.g. Sean Payton).
2. Injuries with these draft picks and free agents have been a major issue.
Things I think I know:
I don't believe MO has had much freedom in making coaching hires. While your point that someone should be able to stand up to Bidwill is well-taken, is that realistic? Will the next GM be given more flexibility (specifically with $$$)? I believe this is the framework in which someone in the Cardinals front office just has to deal with, unfortunately. For example, with our young coaches, if we're bringing in the cheapest and greenest HCs, OCs, DCs, then what is the likelihood Bidwill is going to significantly up coaching expenses by hiring advisors that aren't actually decisionmakers?
Things I don't know:
While some of these draft picks have not been great, or have left better options on the table, they seem to be an improvement from the Keim drafts I was here for (started following in 2020). However, we are lacking in breakout stars, while MO has been better at finding good/decent players and depth pieces. Can the franchise be successful with a "soft" rebuild? Turn things around in another 1-2 years with this front office? I think if you fire MO, you're looking at a full roster turnover. New leadership likes to start fresh, but I'm not sure if that's fully necessary here.
I think a new GM and HC have a pretty exciting roster to add some key players to in order to be highly competitive right from the get-go. Over the bye week I will try to showcase the returning talent. Thanks, TMatty.
DeleteThis is crazy for me to even imagine but I’d have preferred Keim made the 25+ picks we had last 3 years, including 15 top 100. I have a hard time imagining there’s any GM in the league that’d have gotten less return on investment in terms of on field production from the total “haul”. Of course there’s still time for these young players to grow and make future impact but the current returns are troubling. Free agency? Equally troubling. Coaching hires? Troubling—especially when you take the tampering and loss of a 3rd tripping over himself like a fool to tamper with JG, a guy that no other team even had a semblance of interest in. That decision alone makes you wonder how bright of a guy he is.
ReplyDeleteMikey B whiffed massively with Monti but is that any surprise? What are the odds that he’d step outside of his own building and hire a good GM? In theory based on what we know about Mikey B, odds are slim and in reality the evidence exists—Monti constructed squads are 14-28 and staring a 5-10 game losing streak in the face. We can look at things through rose colored lenses and find excuses for 14-28 but I’m not going to be doing that myself. I’m sick of apologizing for being a doormat and losing 2 games for every 1 we win. If Monti had performed at even a median level amongst his peers the last 3 years we’d be in a pretty damn good spot and definitely not be riding a 4 and counting losing streak.
Good points, as always, Burberry. It feels like the coaches are only slightly committed to so many Monti's draft picks. How in the world is Elijah Jones not playing? Especially now with Garrett Williams on the IR? This is just another extension of the coaches' conservatism. Doing things halfway.
DeleteThe other thing is, Monti pissed off the league's GMs in his very first draft. He may not be able to get a trading partner ever again involving a 1st round pick. He couldn't get anyone to trade up with him from the #27 pick in 2024. He was able to trade back the early 2nd round pick, yet at the expense of passing on Cooper DeJean. Right now we still don't have any clue what the Cardinals have in Darius Robinson and Walter Nolen. Hopefully, we get greater clarity on that this season.
Whatd Monti do that rubbed fellow GM the wrong way in 2023? The was dying for us to be able to trade #4 to Minny for both of their firsts so we could snag a duo like Verse and BTJ or Verse and Wiggins. Not that I actually wanted to trade out of 4, as I badly wanted Alt or Nabers there but that I knew we were going to take MHJ and that was going to work out identically to how it has. Seems that was never a real possibility however if Monti has already pissed off his peers, and the entire football nation had somehow been brainwashed something silly crowning MHJ before he’d ever played a snap. Now I’m just hopeful he’ll be as good as Plaxico Burress.
DeleteI think he is talking about the videos of the draft room trade that MO made with Texas. Not too many GM's would be excited to have their trade with MO documented in the same way.
DeleteOoo ya that’s right appreciate the reply/info
DeleteI don't agree with a lot of the points in your article but winning fixes everything. As you indicated, it's an exciting and talented roster. If they put together some wins and get into the playoffs as per expectations, sustained success looks to be very possible. Hard to justify any move with a current 4 game losing streak, especially in the manner some of them were lost.
ReplyDeleteMO said the following when asked if Murray will remain the starting quarterback once his foot injury has healed-“We’re going to continue to try and get Kyler where he can get back to doing the things he can do on the field. When he’s doing that, he’ll be out there.”
ReplyDeleteThe simplest way to read this is that Murray will play when he is healthy. Whether he intended to or not, MO leaves the door open for this to be interpreted as a message that Murray needs to play better if he wants to start ahead of Jacoby Brissett.
I wish I could hear BA answer to that question if he’d have struggled through 2+ seasons of apathetic play from KM then backup came in and did something Murray hadn’t done in 3 entire calendar years. (300+ pass yards and 2td plus a season high in points and yards). Real bummer rooting for a team with nothing but yes men.
DeleteEven worse, JB had more total yards than the entire team had in 4/5 games. The one game he didn’t exceed it was only 26 yards.
Murray has no business getting his job back outside of a JB injury.