Amidst the Chaos of the Patriots, Alex Van Pelt is Taking the Dreaded High Road

There's not a Patriots fan walking the Earth who hasn't torn Alex Van Pelt a new butthole this season, early and often. (And know two who left this Earth in the middle of the season who did as well.) But the consensus opinion is that, while Van Pelt has had his faults, the fact this team is 3-11 is not on him. That responsibility for that goes above the pay grade of a first-year occupant of a job that was turned down by 11 candidates with more experience. I've had my frustrations with AVP for sure. But I stand by what I wrote in the KJR of the Arizona game:

But just because that's where the head coach has landed, doesn't mean the rest of us should. He might be an innocent bystander in all this. Just collateral damage. A victim of his own team's failings, with the luxury of pointing fingers. But to pin it all on Alex Van Pelt is to ignore the systemic, organization-wide negligence we're witnessing. Simply put, the Patriots were not ready for this game, on any level. Despite having two weeks to prepare for a sub-.500 team coming off three straight losses. To try and pin this on "If only the OC had called this instead of that" is to miss the larger point about just how awful, unprepared and inept the Patriots are in the Year of Our Lord 2024.

To the surprise of no one who's been paying attention these last 12 or so months, Mayo later regretted singling someone else out for blame. Which has been kind of a pattern all year:

So once again, he walked back his comment. Which is also a pattern. If Asante Samuel had a backpedal like Mayo's in 2007, we'd all have spent the last 17 years wearing "19-0" gear. 

Though for his part, Drake Maye has said nothing but appreciate, complimentary, and supportive things:

All that serves as the preamble for Van Pelt to take the podium for the first time since getting called out by both ownership and his immediate supervisor. And if you thought he might go off the rails, blast his critics, or otherwise go Full Joe Judge on everybody's ass, you're going to be sadly disappointed.

There was some other stuff about not wanting to compare players, but you can see some similar skillsets between Maye and Josh Allen. And he admitted that our eyes aren't deceiving us; he's purposely not designing run plays for Maye:

So while the Patriots last two opponents were perfectly happy to shred the Pats with quarterback runs from Anthony Richardson and Kyler Murray, that particular weapon will not be a part of Vanilla Vick's arsenal, no matter how effective it is:

Meaning that winning games is not a priority the rest of the way. We're officially playing for 2025. Which is fine with everyone who didn't pay good money for the last two home games. But whatever. 

The larger takeaway is that Van Pelt is a veteran of these wars who's been around the league long enough to know that this is how you play the coaching game. Winning counts above all else. But as they say in Survivor, you've got to play the social game. Don't blame others. Don't argue. Don't explain. Don't apologize. Don't do anything behind a microphone to embarrass yourself that you'll have to take back later on.

And I think it's safe to say that, for all our criticisms of AVP's playcalling this year, he's the coach on this staff we have the most confidence in. More so than Mayo or DC Demarcus Covington, anyway. At the very least, his offense has generally trended in an upward trajectory since Maye took over as the QB1. Whereas the other side of the ball has been in a death spiral, getting worse as the season's gone on. 

If nothing else, Van Pelt has shown he's got the temperament for the job. To quote the favorite poem of middle aged dads who are sending their sons out into the world, Ruyard Kipling's If begins:

If you can keep your head when all about you   

     Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

 If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

     But make allowance for their doubting too;

Then you can keep your job developing Drake Maye into the franchise quarterback we desperately need him to become.

Or words to that effect. Anyway, Van Pelt acquitted himself well at a time when he's taking shots from every angle. And in doing so, took the heat off himself. The head coach ought to take notes.