Patriots Plan: Robert Kraft Promises ‘Critical Evaluation' of Bill Belichick

The Patriots have now failed to qualify for the postseason in two of their last three seasons.

FOXBORO — Count New England Patriots team owner and CEO Robert Kraft among the scores of Pats fans displeased by the resolution to the team’s 2022 season. 

Despite sporting a 6-4 record through the first 10 games, New England dropped five of its last seven games and ending its campaign 8-9. In failing to qualify for the postseason, the team has now missed the postseason in two of its past the three years, and for just the fourth time in 23 seasons during Bill Belichick’s coaching tenure.

Following the Patriots’ 35-23 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, Kraft, and team president Jonathan Kraft sent a letter to the club’s season-ticket holders, revealing the organizations intent to demonstrate marked improvement heading into 2023. 

As revealed in an excerpt shared on social media by 98.5 The Sports Hub, the Krafts promised “critical evaluations” of the Patriots’ football operations.

Unfortunately, our season ended sooner than we hoped yesterday afternoon in Buffalo. While we always want to be playing games with playoff implications in Week 18, our expectation was to perform better throughout the season and to advance through the playoffs.

We can assure you that no one in our organization is satisfied with the results from this past season In the weeks ahead, we will be making critical evaluations of all elements of our football operation as we strive to improve and return to the playoffs next year.

When we welcome you back for the 2023 season, we anticipate presenting you with an improved product on the field, as well as many exciting new features and additions to Gillette Stadium. You have helped create a dominant home-field advantage over the past 20 years and we look forward to creating many more memorable moments in the years ahead.

Since purchasing the team in 1994, Kraft has overseen the most successful run of any NFL franchise during that time span. The Patriots have made the playoffs 22 times in his 28 years as owner, winning 19 AFC East titles [including 11 in a row from 2009 to 2019], 10 conference championships and six Super Bowl titles.

Simply put, success has become synonymous with the Kraft family brand.

Still, it should be noted that much of Kraft’s prolific run in the Patriots’ owners box came while the team was under the direction of Belichick as head coach, while being led on the field by quarterback Tom Brady. However, for the past four years, [beginning with Brady’s final season with the team in 2019], New England has failed to taste playoff victory.

This is a fact which clearly does not sit well with team ownership. 

While Kraft has yet to publicly comment on the state of the Patriots, reports have indicated that he remains dissatisfied with the team’s offensive coaching decision, to transfer the duties of ex-offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to Matt Patricia and Joe Judge — despite their respective  inexperience with calling offensive plays or coaching quarterbacks. 

It will be interesting to see if a prospective overhaul of the Pats coaching staff is included in the ‘critical evaluation’ process which the Krafts mentioned in their letter. 

Although questions surrounding New England’s future will continue to swirl in the coming weeks, the head coaching position appears to be secure for the foreseeable future. When speaking with reporters via video conference on Monday morning, Belichick confirmed that he has “every intention” of returning for his 24th season at the helm in New England. In fact, he echoed many of the Krafts’ sentiments, stating “nobody is satisfied” with the Patriots’ performance this season and that the evaluation process for 2023 will begin immediately.

“As we do every year, we’ll evaluate everything and try to make the best decisions that we can to move forward and be more competitive, to have a stronger team in the future,” Belichick said. “Robert [Kraft] and I will talk about that, we’ll talk about that as a staff, and certainly individual conversations with many of the players, as we always do. All the players, starting today.”

It is often said that there is never a dull moment in New England when it comes to the Patriots. For as long as Robert and the Kraft family own the team, the standard of excellence will continue to be set at the highest level.

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Follow Mike D’Abate on Twitter @mdabateNFL and Listen/Subscribe to his daily podcast: Locked On Patriots

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