Patriots Taken to Wood(y)shed by Former Star: 'Basically Irrelevant'

On the field, Damien Woody won Super Bowls with the New England Patriots. But in his analysts chair, he's watched his former team lose its mojo.

Since Tom Brady left town, the Pats are 25-25 and haven't won a playoff game.

“I know this has to be eating (Robert) Mr. Kraft up, that the Patriots are basically irrelevant,” Woody told the Boston Herald. "I know it has to,"

Woody played in Foxboro from 1999-2003, going to the Pro Bowl while winning two rings alongside Brady, Kraft and coach Bill Belichick. After his playing career he became an NFL analyst, these days working for ESPN.

In the wake of last season's disappointing 8-9 record that kept his team out of the playoffs for the second time in three years, Kraft held meetings with Belichick in hopes of turning around the troubling trend. Woody provided some advice for Kraft ...

“Go out there and make a couple of splash moves,” Woody said. “Bring some spice and some relevance back to the Patriots. Make it interesting.”

The Patriots, who had just one player - edge rusher Matthew Judon - make the Pro Bowl, also placed only one among Pro Football Focus' top 101 individual performers of 2022. Woody, however, says they are making positive strides by bringing back offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien to replace the shared duties of Matt Patricia and Joe Judge.

“That was madness what they were doing last year,” Woody said. “So I’m glad they got a guy who knows what he’s doing. But they need weapons. They need difference makers on offense. It’s not good enough just getting Billy O’Brien back. They need actual guys on the field that will make a difference.”

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