On Monday night, the Patriots suffered an embarrassing blowout loss to the Chiefs. Earlier that day, potent quotes from former Patriots defensive tackle Tommy Kelly landed on his current team’s website. Kelly’s comments were largely unnoticed in the aftermath of the 41-14 nightmare for New England.
“I couldn’t take busting my tail every day getting to a game and them taking me out of the game for someone who I know isn’t better than me, because he’s a cheaper option,” Kelly told the Cardinals’ website, in remarks spotted by Ben Volin of the Boston Globe. “Are we worried about money here? Or are we worried about winning?”
The Cardinals currently are about winning, so they pounced on Kelly as the replacement for Darnell Dockett, who tore an ACL in August.
The Patriots cut Kelly two days before abruptly trading Pro Bowl guard Logan Mankins, a cost-cutting move that has backfired on the team, in more ways than one. Apart from the obvious reduction in the quality of offensive line play, some players aren’t happy with the timing of the decision to squeeze Mankins into taking less money.
Per a league source, the request that Mankins take less money for 2014 came not long before the trade happened. The eleventh-hour squeeze play put Mankins in a tough spot, and he opted to hold firm. The move also has prompted speculation and suspicion that coach Bill Belichick was exacting a measure of payback for Mankins’ ugly holdout in 2010.
So whether it’s about saving money or settling scores, it’s fair to wonder whether personnel decisions have been made with an eye toward winning games or with other objectives in mind. Either way, the Pats aren’t winning as many games as they need to, and it could get worse tonight with the 3-0 Bengals coming to town.