Former Patriots executive Mike Lombardi said this week that Bill Belichick moving Matt Patricia and Joe Judge to the offensive side of the ball was a mistake.

At first glance you would think he is piling on but the reality is, Lombardi is familiar with the inner workings of the organization and he knows how Bill Belichick operates. He is not just someone in sports media with an opinion.

Lombardi believes the Matt Patricia experiment has failed and it comes down to one thing. The passing game.

“There’s going to have to be a really hard self-evaluation, and it’s going to have to start with the head coach because they can’t throw the ball,” Lombardi said. “Let’s just put it out there. They cannot throw the football. This whole Matt Patricia-Joe Judge … it’s not working.”

Lombardi doesn’t buy Belichick’s assertion that if you’re a good coach, you can coach anywhere.

“Just because he coaches defense, doesn’t mean he can call offensive plays or set up an offense,” Lombardi said of Patricia. “It’s not there.”

Lombardi continued: “They just have no idea on how to set up a gameplan, how to attack a [defense], how to attack the adjustments,” Lombardi continued. “All the things that I learned from [working in the NFL], all the things that I believe in offensive football from learning it from there, from [Bill] Walsh, from Belichick, from all the coaches … they just run plays.”

Lombardi is right. The Patriots offense has no rhythm. As I said this week on the New England Football Show, the Patriots are running plays for the sake of running plays. Nothing is set up, they don’t run plays off other concepts. It is just a mess. They are throwing crap against the wall and hoping it sticks. This offense is a far departure from the game plan specific offenses of the past.

Belichick has said in recent years that at this point in his career, he wants to coach with guys that he wants to be around. I get it. As coaches, we feel that way after awhile but this is the NFL. It is a business. You surround yourself with people who help you win. You put them in positions where they can help the organization succeed. Belichick did not do that this off-season.

Now one has to wonder if Robert Kraft will step and force Belichick to make changes. Kraft wants to win. It is no secret that he is not happy about the fact that the last Patriots playoff win was in 2018.

I don’t think Kraft would trade or fire Belichick but I am sure he will demand staff changes. Does Belichick have it in him to reassign or fire two coaches he developed and trusts? We will find out soon enough.

I have defended Belichick throughout this and I believe he should coach the Patriots until he doesn’t want to coach anymore. However the NFL is a business, past success means nothing. It is all about what you have done lately and lately, the Patriots are fledgling football team that seemingly has no direction.