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These next few days spotlight is back on NFL — and Pats

By Tom King - Staff Writer | Mar 27, 2023

It’s the week leading up to the Final Four, and the basketballs have been bouncing all over in your heads.

It’s the week when Major League Baseball pretends it’s warm out in the east and has Opening Day. And it’ll be Opening Day at Fenway Park on Thursday. Temps are supposed to be in the mid to upper 40s. In other words, 40 degrees colder than where the Red Sox have been the last six weeks.

But the National Football League steals the limelight like no one else. Because beginning today, NFL owners and coaches are having their annual big pow wow, returning to the Phoenix area.

Yes, this is the annual session when New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick has had some of his finest moments – the orange juice staredown one year at the Coaches Breakfast, and last year’s infamous quote when asked about who was going to make the play calls on offense said something to the tune of “I don’t think we have to call a play for awhile.”

Belichick was before the media last week at Devin McCourty’s retirement ceremony, and was at his storytelling best. No questions. He wasn’t at the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, and he talked today in a media session in which his most often used quote was “We’ll see”.

Does he have much ‘splainin’ to do?

Sports talk radio has been nitpicking and up and arms for weeks. The Patriots didn’t sign that game breaking receiver or any other big names in free agency. Joe Judge received a promotion. The Patriots let go of a reliable receiver in Jacobi Myers and brought in a talented yet boisterous JuJu Smith-Schuster. They haven’t made a play for Lamar Jackson…Blah blah blah blah….

Calm down people. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and this Patriots team isn’t going to be built in four weeks in March.

We’re not being apologists here, just realists. This wasn’t a great crop of free agents. DeAndre Hopkins, everyone’s shiny new receiver toy, is not what he once was, has to be traded for and he and new/old offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien didn’t exactly drink sweet tea together in Houston. Now, if you’re talking Denver receiver Jerry Jeudy, who is also on the market, maybe we can raise an eyebrow or two. He’ll cost a one or more likely a second round pick. Doubt the Patriots will want to part with the former, perhaps the latter.

As for the Meyers vs.Smith-Schuster debate, hey, yes, Meyers was a great guy in the locker room, a great story making the team as an undrafted free agent, a favorite of Cam Newton and then Mac Jones. Reliable. But not worth big money. Wherever he caught the ball, that’s where the ball would be snapped on the very next play. Smith-Schuster is more dynamic, can make more things happen. He’s better after the catch, and the Patriots need that. We’ll see how it plays out, but we think it was the right move.

Lamar Jackson or Mac Jones? Hmmm, the Patriots can keep Jones, who has to be better than the moper we saw last season, now that O’Brien is around to clean up the mess, on his team friendly rookie deal, and build around him. Or they can shell out two No. 1’s for a quarterback who is dumb enough to not hire an agent and who predictably now has an injury history because of his running style. Oh, his playoff record with Baltimore: 1-3. Does that take any shine off this toy?

As for Judge, who cares what his title is? He’s a former head coach so Belichick gave him that respect. Special teams was his thing before, and that’s what he’ll do this time around, as well as some holding of Belichick’s tablet. Remember, the only real reason he’s here is because someone else (the Giants) is paying is salary. The only reason Matt Patricia isn’t around right now is because Detroit is done paying his salary. That’s how it works in Foxborough. Unfortunately that philosophy cost the Patriots big time last year.

The stars are in Buffalo, Miami, and soon (Aaron Rodgers) in New York. Maybe it won’t work out for two of them, allowing the Patriots to get back into the playoffs. Maybe not.

The Patriots spent a record haul in free agency two years ago. The result? A two year 18-17 mark. You want to criticize Belichick and owner Robert Kraft for anything?

How about letting the best QB in the history of the NFL walk out the door for a compensatory pick and seeing him win another Super Bowl before he retired.

Meanwhile, what are the Vegas odds that Belichick finally takes part in the Coaches Photo this year?

Not good.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.

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