This Bill Belichick Landing Spot No Longer Feels Like Random Long Shot

09/20/2024 03:57 PM

Bill Belichick suffered three Super Bowl losses as head coach of the New England Patriots.

The first two defeats came at the hands of Tom Coughlin and the New York Giants. The other was a shootout loss to Doug Pederson and the Philadelphia Eagles.

This context is notable. And not because the Giants and Eagles -- two franchises facing a litany of questions -- have been floated as potential landing spots whenever Belichick returns to coaching.

Rather, we should pay more attention to Pederson's current team, the Jacksonville Jaguars, who enter back-to-back road games against the Buffalo Bills and Houston Texans with an 0-2 record. The pressure might soon increase in Duval County.

"Jacksonville clearly has problems. Offensive line is a huge issue," Ricky Doyle said on the latest episode of NESN's "The Spread" podcast. " ... They've even spoken to the communication problems they've had to this point. (With) that, you start to wonder about the coaching a little bit."

The Jaguars have lost seven of their last eight games dating back to last season. Their lone win in that span: a 26-0 victory against the lowly Carolina Panthers with C.J. Beathard starting in place of an injured Trevor Lawrence.

At some point, there needs to be more accountability, whether it's the head coach or the franchise quarterback who just signed a five-year, $275 million contract extension.

Jacksonville took a huge step forward in Pederson's first season with the franchise, going 9-8 and winning a wild-card playoff game one year removed from the Urban Meyer train wreck. But the Jags failed to build on that momentum in 2023. And they're off to an inauspicious start in 2024, suffering losses to the Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns to kick off the new campaign.

Could Belichick be the answer?

"What did I say before the season, though? Jags, a sneaky team to look for in the Bill Belichick coaching drama this offseason," Doyle said this week. "If this thing continues to go south, I am loving this even more: Belichick to Jacksonville in the offseason."

As you might recall, Doyle and Mike Cole kicked around possible Belichick destinations on the July 24 episode of "The Spread," a discussion that included pinpointing a few long-shot landing spots. SportsBetting.ag had the Jaguars at 25-1 in their Belichick next-team odds, which Doyle saw as great value for multiple reasons.

"Look, Doug Pederson, mixed results, 9-8 in back-to-back seasons. He's 56 -- he's not on the younger side of this influx of young coaches that is coming up -- and I think they're in kind of a win-now situation, where they'd be OK with hiring a Bill Belichick and trying to go after it for a couple of years," Doyle said in July. "You have the QB locked up -- Trevor Lawrence just got his new deal. I feel like Belichick might be the best thing for a guy like that, who has all the skills in the world but just sort of needs to button some things up -- like the turnover problems and whatnot.

"Bad division. You wanna talk wins? They're there (for the taking). Very attainable. That owner (Shahid Khan). You're looking for a team that's looking to create a little buzz. You've got the international appeal with the London games. They're trying to build that stadium of the future, or renovate the stadium of the future, whatever it may be."

Of course, Jacksonville still has plenty of time to turn around its season, in which case the conversation could become moot. But since 2002, only one of the 103 teams to start a season 0-3 has gone on to make the playoffs. And the Jaguars were 4.5-point underdogs at FanDuel Sportsbook, as of Friday afternoon, for their Week 3 matchup with the Bills.

"It's not a sexy pick. We're not talking about a prestigious franchise here," Doyle said in July of Belichick potentially taking his talents to Jacksonville. "But isn't that the AFC equivalent of (Tom) Brady going to Tampa?"

Heck, maybe Belichick will find satisfaction in replacing one of the two head coaches to defeat him on football's biggest stage. (Somewhere, Mac Jones shudders.)