Letting Charlie Weis, Romeo Crennel Go to Chiefs Is a Big Loss for Patriots

by

Jan 12, 2010

Letting Charlie Weis, Romeo Crennel Go to Chiefs Is a Big Loss for Patriots Sunday's defeat at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens was a tough pill to swallow, but it wasn't the Patriots' only loss of the week.

On Friday, the Kansas City Chiefs made official the signing of Charlie Weis as their offensive coordinator. For a Patriots offense that was out of sync all season, there's no question that the team needed an offensive mind like Weis' to get things back in order. Instead, Weis will be working with Tom Brady's understudy, Matt Cassel, in an effort to reinvent himself as a capable leader on the sidelines.

The Patriots were likely too busy preparing for the playoffs to spend time looking for an offensive coordinator, but it's clear they need one. Bill Belichick said on Monday that even if quarterbacks coach Bill O'Brien was the one calling the plays, the head coach always had the final say.

"Well, ultimately, every play that gets called, I have the final say on," Belichick said in his weekly appearance on WEEI. "I have the final say on the plays, so ultimately, if the play is a bad play or if it's called in the wrong situation or it doesn’t work out right, then I’m the one that’s finally responsible for it."

While nobody can really question Belichick as a head coach, they can now question his ability as an offensive play caller, if this season is any indication. That's where Weis would come in. When he was running the offense under Belichick, the Patriots were an unpredictable bunch. One week, Antowain Smith would rush for 117 yards; the next, he'd run for just 28. And the Patriots would come out on top in both.

There would be end-arounds and halfback passes, and there would even be David Patten rushing, catching and throwing a touchdown in the same game. The players during Weis' time in New England weren't always the most talented, yet role players like Jermaine Wiggins, David Givens, Patten and countless others became bona fide stars.

When Weis left New England for South Bend, Josh McDaniels kept alive some of Weis' creativity, but when the team acquired Randy Moss and Wes Welker, the Pats no longer needed to trick anybody. Two years later, though, the league has caught on, and the team needs to adjust accordingly.

Making matters worse for the Patriots is that it appears Romeo Crennel will be joining the Kansas City staff, completing the establishment of Patriots West. Obviously, Scott Pioli recognizes how valuable the two coordinators were to the dynasty. And make no mistake: Crennel and Weis were vital to the success of the Patriots in the first half of this decade.

Like Weis, Crennel maximized the talent on the defensive side of the ball. Sure, there were playmakers on the roster like Willie McGinest, Tedy Bruschi, Richard Seymour, Ty Law and Rodney Harrison, but there were just as many guys — take castoff Mike Vrabel for example — who blossomed in Crennel's system. Under Crennel, the Patriots utilized stunts and blitzes that confused even the NFL's best; this year, they looked to only confuse themselves.

When the trio of Belichick, Weis and Crennel shared a hug on the sidelines after the Pats had won their third Super Bowl in four years, most football fans in New England understood that that moment would likely never be replicated. Lo and behold, six years later, it became a real possibility, only the Patriots were either too slow to act or weren't interested.

This much we know: Bill Belichick is a great head coach. Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel are not. We also know that Bill Belichick struggled to manage play-calling duties — call him an "associate coordinator" — this year, and we know that Weis and Crennel were excellent coordinators not long ago.

As of Monday, we also learned that Belichick's supporting staff doesn't always stand up to him when necessary.

"Definitely Romeo or Charlie or somebody … they wouldn’t really be afraid to at times say, ‘What are you doing? Are you serious? Are you seriously considering that?’ Belichick said in his Monday news conference. "And then there is certainly another level of coach that at that time or at this time, they just wouldn’t say that to me.

"There’s a point in time where you reach a point or you have a relationship and you feel more comfortable saying things that you just wouldn’t have said — even with that [same] guy — a few years earlier," he added. "We try to have an open communication, an open forum on some things and some things aren’t open. Some things are ‘This is the way they’re going to be.’ … I think that’s something, as a head coach, you have to be conscious of and I am. I'm not saying I do a great job of it; I don’t know whether I do or not, but I’m definitely conscious of that."

Being conscious about something and taking steps to change it are two very different things, and the Patriots clearly missed an opportunity to improve. Isn't it safe to think that the outcome in Indianapolis this year might have been different if Belichick had Crennel in his ear to stop him from the fourth-and-2 attempt? Or if he had Weis to call a better play than the one that was called? Those are the moments in which Crennel or Weis could make a major impact on the Patriots, and they're the moments in which the Patriots had trouble all year.

Maybe the Patriots didn't want Weis or Crennel, or maybe it was vice versa. We may never really know. But we do know the Patriots are facing a new decade with a good number of questions that have no answers at the moment, and filling the coordinator positions with proven coaches would have helped get the team moving in the right direction.

Where they'll go now? That's anyone's call.

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