“They embrace the past.”—That’s the statement that fired up a fresh wave of drama in Foxborough—with Bill Belichick‘s aide Michael Lombardi putting the Pats’ owner right in the crosshairs. It’s been one helluva season for New England with the Patriots starting 1–6, losing 6 straight games for the first time since 1993, and there’s a storm brewing inside the organization. 

Former NFL GM Lombardi‘s interview on NESN wasn’t your typical talk. He hit out at New England’s owner, Robert Kraft. Lombardi, who worked for the Patriots as an assistant on the coaching staff from 2014-16, is frustrated with how Kraft’s handling of the organization seems to be eroding the legacy of a six-time Super Bowl champ, Bill Belichick. Per Lombardi, Kraft’s approach is all about cashing in on past glory. “They want to take credit for the past,” the former GM noted on NESN, “talk about the greatest coach of all time as if he’s never coached a game before.”

Lombardi’s take is more about culture, though. He pointed to Kraft’s criticisms—like the infamous line about giving Belichick “too much authority.” He argued that the Pats’ focus on separating from Belichick’s style is a recipe for disaster—especially in a season where Jerod Mayo’s struggling to find his footing.

The 65-year-old offered a historical example. Drawing a parallel with the Browns’ 1988 firing of Marty Schottenheimer, Lombardi underscored how chasing the “opposite direction” can backfire. In that case, Cleveland swapped a detailed, disciplined coach for someone far less hands-on. What happened next? The program felt apart. Now, he’s worried that with Mayo, the Pats are heading down the same path. The HC’s bringing a “kinder, gentler” vibe—a style that just doesn’t fly in the cutthroat NFL. 

Lombardi stressed that championship teams are built on details, discipline, and a sense of responsibility—traits Belichick drilled into New England’s DNA. “You never hear Belichick saying, ‘The players played poorly, but we coached great.’” The Washington Huskies advisor even challenged Mayo’s leadership, questioning whether the former LB could carry the mantle. In fact, this is not the first time that he has questioned Mayo’s abilities.

Just days back, in an appearance on ‘The Bill Simmons Podcast,’ Lombardi ripped Mayo apart. Referring to the fact that Mayo has been coaching only for five years, he had said, “These guys are getting head coaching jobs because they’re ex-players. We’re not the NBA. It’s a bigger enterprise than managing eight or seven players. It’s a different world. It’s a more complex game. It’s chess on grass. I’m not dismissing the NBA coaches because that’s a hard job. In the NBA, you play offense and defense. So, you know everything about the game. You know the game completely.”

According to Lombardi, Mayo pretends that he knows offense. But “He doesn’t know any techniques of what the line does. He doesn’t know the receivers. He knows what the plays are. He doesn’t know the fundamentals and techniques,” Lombardi had alleged.

With veteran voices like Tom Brady and Devin McCourty no longer in the locker room, Lombardi is worried that the Patriots are losing their edge. “Do you think we’ll see that from Jerod Mayo?” he asked, casting doubt on whether the HC can shoulder the full weight of leadership without deflecting it to his coordinators. But as things stand, the Bill Belichick culture that Lombardi pointed out probably caused the end of the legendary coach’s relationship with the Franchise.

Bill Belichick was someone who had and exercised control over literally everything in the franchise. The coaching staff and schemes. Draft picks. Free agents. Undrafted free agents. Hirings and firings. The salary cap and personnel management. The full roster and practice squad. Gameday actives. So his departure seems to mark the ending of the era of the “everything” coaches in the League. And he is not the only one on the firing line.

Tennessee Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk fired Mike Vrabel to forcefully shift her team into a more collaborative decision-making process that includes general manager Ran Carthon. The Seattle Seahawks nudged Pete Carroll out of his head coaching position, shifting power into the hands of general manager John Schneider. Kraft has spoken candidly about how he himself made Belichick the supreme power and then had to split with him for that.

“When you have someone like Bill who’s had control over every decision, every coach we hire, the organization reports to him on the draft and how much money we spend — every decision has been his, and we’ve always supported him. To then take some of that power away and give it to someone else, accountability is important to me in every one of our companies. Where he had the responsibility and then someone else takes it, it’s going to set up confusion. It wouldn’t work, in my opinion,” the owner had said.

Kraft had said that the Krafts are the “custodian of this asset” important to New England, and in a “results business,” the Patriots have fallen short. The stats indeed support the statement. After Belichick’s two decades of historic success, the Patriots have missed three of the past four postseasons and have not won a playoff game since 2018. Their 4-13 record this season was the worst in the AFC and the worst of Belichick’s career. Looking at all these, probably Kraft decided to get rid of the autocratic culture.

“In my opinion, he earned it, and it worked pretty well for most of the time. But all of us need checks and balances in our lives. I call it, we need ‘Dr. No’s’ around us — people to protect us from ourselves. As things evolve and you get more power, sometimes people are afraid to speak up. I’m speaking about all companies. I think it’s good to have checks and balances, but once you have [the power], it’s kind of hard to pull it away and expect to have the accountability you want. It was best we each moved on,” Kraft had stated. The saga doesn’t end here.

If rumors are to be believed, Belichick lost the Atlanta Falcons job because of Kraft’s ‘negative’ reviews about the former to Falcon’s owner Arthur Blank. Although Kraft and his associates vehemently denied that, Blank considers Kraft as his closest friend among the NFL owners. So we can not entirely quash the claims. But, one thing is certain and showing: the effort to change of culture did not pay the Patriots well, at least till now. So the questions are not unnatural. Meanwhile, it is not only the Patriots’ leadership that disappointed Lombardi. 

Michael Lombardi slams Giants’ off-season moves

Lombardi’s got the Giants in his sights. On The Pat McAfee Show, the former exec ripped into New York’s front office, calling their Hard Knocks behavior “fantasy draft” level. “It looked like they were at some sports bar,” Lombardi sneered, suggesting the decision-making was more about optics than substance.

The HBO doc showed the Giants’ splashy offseason moves—trading for Brian Burns, snagging Devin Singletary, and waving goodbye to Saquon Barkley. But Lombardi wasn’t impressed. “They never said, one time in the entire Hard Knocks, ‘How do we beat Philly? How do we beat Dallas?’” he fumed, highlighting what he saw as a glaring oversight.

The results haven’t done much to change the narrative. New York’s sitting at 2-5. Yet, team owner John Mara’s doubling down on GM Joe Schoen and coach Brian Daboll. The Philadelphia Eagles’ 28-3 victory over the New York Giants will probably be remembered as the Saquon Barkley revenge game.

Currently, the NFL’s third-leading rusher, Barkley recorded a season-high 176 rushing yards and one touchdown in 17 carries in his first game back at MetLife Stadium after leaving New York in free agency. Looking at that, even former Carolina Pathers quarterback Cam Newton blasted the Jets for letting Barkley go. “Don’t hate @saquon—hate the decision-makers who put players in these tough spots,” Newton had said. So Michael Lombardi indeed correct that such big moves need big results. And right now, the Giants are falling flat.