Belichick: 'Too hard' to change offensive play-caller midseason

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is pushing back on taking offensive play-caller duties away from Matt Patricia this late in the season.

"I think we need to do what we're doing better. I don't think at this point making a lot of dramatic changes - it's too hard to do that," Belichick said Monday on WEEI's "The Greg Hill Show," according to Mark Daniels of MassLive.

Patricia was named the offensive play-caller after being hired as a senior football adviser and offensive line coach in the summer following four seasons as head coach of the Detroit Lions. He has no offensive play-calling experience before this season and has coached on the defensive side of the ball since 2005. New England ranks 20th in points per game this season.

Belichick added: "If we can just do consistently what we're doing, I think we'll be alright. But we just haven't been able to have enough consistency. It's not one thing. One time, it's one thing. Next time, it's something else. We just have to play and coach more consistently."

The Patriots' offense struggled to move the ball against the Buffalo Bills in Week 13, only racking up 232 yards in the first three quarters.

Patriots wide receiver Kendrick Bourne was critical of how the Patriots ran the offense against the Bills.

"We need to scheme up better," Bourne said after the game, according to Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald. "We need to know what they're doing. We need to know what they wanna do on third down. ... They call this, and we call that, and it falls right into what they want."

The Patriots play the Arizona Cardinals on Monday Night Football in Week 14.

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