With Judon & Gonzalez Likely Out For Rest Of The Season, Bill Belichick Brings Back J.C. Jackson

    By any measure, Sunday's game at Dallas (3-1) could not have gone much worse for New England (1-3) as they got embarrassed 38-3-the worst loss of Bill Belichick's head coaching career-in front of a national TV audience. It was so gross that I did not feel like writing about it afterwards since how many different ways can you get the obvious point across that they suck? The pain from that debacle will last for a long time since the two best players on the Patriots-defensive end Matthew Judon (bicep) and cornerback Christian Gonzalez (shoulder)-each suffered what seem to be season-ending injuries that will both require surgery. Facing a brutal 1-3 start for the third season in a row, Belichick worked the phone lines and came up with a cornerback that we all know very well: J.C. Jackson. This morning, LA traded Jackson to New England along with a seventh-round pick in 2025 for a sixth-round pick in 2025. Sweetening the deal for Bill is the fact that the dopey Chargers are paying almost all of his salary ($9.33 million) for the rest of the season with the Pats only on the hook for $1.5 million. 

    Back in the good old days when the Patriots were one of the best teams in the NFL every season (you know, because they had Tom Brady), a move like this would be universally lauded. Instead, this is a frustrating move now for a couple reasons: 1) I understand that New England's defense just lost two standout players but Bill spends way too much time and money on that unit to begin with while he completely ignores the offense. 2) If the Chargers did not pay most of Jackson's money, is there any chance that Belichick would pull the trigger on this deal? Nope, because he loves cheap deals more than actual talent which is totally backwards if you want to win championships. Jackson is still only 27 years old and in his sixth season in the league (4 in New England and 2 in Los Angeles) but he has become the latest poster child for a guy that rightfully cashed in on a career season (he was an All-Pro his last season with the Pats and second in the NFL with 8 INTs) but he has done nothing since then.

    He ended up only playing seven total games with the Chargers after hurting his knee in Week 7 last season and in Week 3 a few weeks ago, things got so bad that he was a healthy scratch. After accumulating 25 interceptions as a Patriot and becoming an unlikely star who was undrafted out of Maryland, he only snagged one pick with LA. His monster deal in free agency-5 years, $82.5 million-runs through 2026 so you can bet that no matter what, New England will not want to pay that so he will probably be gone from Foxborough once again when this miserable season comes to an end. It is also troublesome that Belichick only appears to be interested in hiring coaches (Bill O'Brien) that he has already worked with or getting players that have previously played for him. If you only surround yourself with familiar faces and players that nobody else wants, how are you supposed to grow and gain new knowledge? 

    For this and many other reasons-quarterback Mac Jones had the worst game of his life against the Cowboys-the Pats are clearly at another pivotal moment in their franchise history. They host the Saints (2-2) on Sunday (1, CBS) at Gillette Stadium. New Orleans' quarterback Derek Carr (shoulder) is banged up so even if he plays or if goofball Jameis Winston is the starter, this should be a winnable game. However, other than the Jets, it is tough to favor New England against anyone else at the moment. They have so many holes on their roster which was mediocre at best to start the year. Judon was a legitimate Pro Bowler and Gonzalez looked like a steal and an early favorite for the Defensive Rookie of The Year. They are in such rough shape that we all hope that Jackson starts on Sunday after only being back here for a few days. Have you seen fellow cornerback Myles Bryant try to play football? Even if the Patriots win a rock fight against the Saints, it is hard to see them getting the requisite nine or ten wins that it will take to reach the playoffs this season.

If You Need Me Today, I'll Be Driving Ryan Mallett to the Airport

I haven't looked lately but I'm pretty sure that if you opened a dictionary to either the world "useless" or "stiff", you'd see a picture of quarterback Ryan Mallett. That's why I'm so happy that after months and months of endless rumors, that bum is finally being shipped off to the Houston Texans for the pittance of a conditional sixth or seventh-round draft pick in 2016 (sure to be used on some scrub from Rutgers).

Mallett was a third-round pick (74th overall) in 2011 so this was the fourth year that he'd been in New England, with the last three serving as Tom Brady's main backup. Rather than improve year-to-year and develop at all, he only seemed to get worse the few times we saw him every August in JV preseason games. When the Pats drafted Jimmy Garoppolo in the second-round this spring (62nd overall) out of Eastern Illinois, it was obvious that Mallett's days in Foxborough were numbered.

After watching Garoppolo quickly surpass Mallett in training camp and in the preseason games, the only question left to answer was if the Patriots would be able to fleece some stupid team into trading for Mallett rather than just waiting for him to be released (which he would have been, no question). For his career's sake, Mallett is going to a much better situation. Houston is in full rebuilding mode, as evidenced by having Harvard's Ryan Fitzpatrick as their starting quarterback. Plus their head coach is former Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien who must see something in him.

If Mallett never does anything with the Texans, that will probably be it in terms of his time in the NFL. I've always said that he's a poor man's Drew Bledsoe and in 2014, that's not a compliment. He probably would have been good in the 80s or 90s with his throwback style (big, strong arm, bad feet) but it was clear that today's modern quarterback is all about making quick decisions and being mobile enough to make some happen should a play breakdown.

Brady and Peyton Manning are the dinosaurs in this game which is why odds are Mallett will never contribute something of note now that he's outside the comfort zone of a winning organization. There won't be anymore Patriots bobos and honks in the media to prop up his trade value with silly talk of him really turning the corner every summer. Nope, this is it for him and frankly, I'm thrilled to say so long. Should disaster strike the Patriots in 2014 (or the next few), I'm much more confident that Garoppolo at least could deliver some hope that the season won't be flushed down the toilet immediately.

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Well That Didn't Take Long: Josh McDaniels Is Back With The Patriots For The Playoffs

In a move that is only surprising in terms of its swiftness, former Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has reportedly returned to the team to be Bill O'Brien's offensive assistant during the playoffs. His first day on the new/old job is tomorrow.

McDaniels was New England's offensive coordinator during the 2006-2008 seasons, his final game was the Super Bowl loss to the Giants. After two mostly terrible years as head coach of the Broncos, he was fired. Most recently, he was St. Louis' offensive coordinator (yes, they had one) last season. He will take over next season as O'Brien goes to Penn State.

"There's no way I can stand up in front of our football team and talk about loyalty and commitment and then leave the Patriots at the start of a playoff run," O'Brien said at his introductory news conference at Penn State. "I have committed to the New England Patriots to see them through this playoff run. There's not going to be a lot of sleep over the next two-to-three weeks. Any break I have, to make sure I have as much time as I can for Penn State."

Any Pats fan should love this move since the offense was never better than when it was in McDaniels' hands. With some time to readjust and learn the new players not to mention plays, I'm sure by next season it will seem like he never left. McDaniels is still only 35 which means, he'll crush it for a few more years in Foxborough and then take another head coaching job somewhere else in the NFL. That's how it goes when you're working with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.

In that season (2007-08), Tom Brady set a single-season league record with 50 touchdown passes for an offense that averaged a league-best 411.2 yards. It also was first in yards passing, 295.7 and points per game, 36.8.

Now McDaniels will be reunited with Brady and another prolific offense in time for the Patriots practices for their divisional playoff game next Saturday. As the top-seeded team in the AFC, they earned home-field advantage throughout the conference playoffs.

The Patriots were second in the league in overall yards with 428 per game and yards passing with 317.8. Their average of 32.1 points was third.

You can never have enough guys around that Belichick trusts. The fact that he let McDaniels go a few years ago and then return, shows that he still respects what he can do. Most importantly, on a coaching staff full of nobodies and never weres, McDaniels brings a legit resume filled with experience in his young career. You have to believe that in those coaches meetings-like the one we saw in "A Football Life"-McDaniels would be much more likely to speak up and heaven forbid, disagree with Belichick. These are all good things.

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Your Next Head Coach Of Penn State Football: Bill O'Brien. Wait, What?

There is settling in life and then there is choosing Bill O'Brien to be the new head football coach at Penn State.

This absurd rumor was validated tonight as ESPN's Chris Mortenson tweeted that New England's offensive coordinator has been chosen to lead the Nittany Lions starting next season. The official announcement from the University is expected on Saturday although O'Brien will stay with the Patriots throughout the postseason.

Let me say a few nice words about the anonymous guy that will soon take over the most toxic job in all of sports. First, he's from Andover, MA and he also played football and graduated from Brown University. Those are two local connections that I can relate to and appreciate.

Now let's get real. O'Brien has never been a head coach, at any level. Before coming to New England, he worked at such college powerhouses as Duke, Georgia Tech and Maryland. How many other, more qualified candidates turned down Penn State? I'd venture a guess that it was easily in double digits. If you've been keeping track, it's been nearly two months since they fired Joe Paterno so clearly, they've had ample time to assemble a good list.

O'Brien probably figured that this was the fastest way for him to be able to be the face of a program-college or professional. Still, wouldn't you rather just be the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars (another rumor about him) than jump into the absolute mess in Happy Valley, PA? I guess he figures he can be a hero and change the culture there. Good luck with that.

As for more pertinent matters with Patriots fans, how will this affect the team in the playoffs? Looking back in 2004-05 (the last Super Bowl champion), a similar scenario occurred with offensive coordinator Charlie Weis being a lame duck before he went to Notre Dame. The Pats ended up rolling through the playoffs and beating the Eagles in the Super Bowl for their third title in four seasons.

Everybody knows that the Bill Belichick coaching tree has not been fruitful when it comes to head coaching success. Usually, they (Eric Mangini, Josh McDaniels, Weis) have moderate success at first before completely losing it and getting fired a few years later. We just don't know much about O'Brien to say with any conviction that he'll be any different, especially under the circumstances.

If I'm Belichick, I'm cutting the phone lines to O'Brien's office at Gillette Stadium and also confiscating any cell phones he has. That is to ensure optimal focus while New England is still alive in the playoffs. After that, see ya later. Thanks for the memories Bill (O'Brien).

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