FOXBOROUGH — New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick made it clear that the team is going through a process in determining who calls the offensive plays after Matt Patricia and Joe Judge split those duties in Thursday's preseason opener against the Giants.
The process isn't a competition, though, at least according to Patricia.
“I mean, honestly, it’s just collaborative from that standpoint,” Patricia, the offensive line coach, said. “We follow coach Belichick’s lead. I’m just trying to do my job to the best ability, whatever he asks me to do on any given day and that’s the beauty of it. That’s what I love. It’s always new and exciting and challenging from that standpoint. We’re all just working together right now, which is the great part about it.”
Matt Patricia and Joe Judge talk Monday morning about offensive play-calling duties for the Patriots… pic.twitter.com/78oh4GGUQS
— NBC Sports Boston's Patriots Coverage (@NBCSPatriots) August 15, 2022
“We’re 100 percent just trying to make sure we do everything possible as coaches to allow our players to go and do everything they can on the field,” Patricia added when asked in a follow-up if he felt he was in a competition with Judge. “That’s what’s important, not the rest of it.”
Judge, who's an offensive assistant and the quarterbacks coach, is following a similar approach as Patricia.
“As far as whatever defined roles there may be, I come to work every day with one simple policy: Whatever [Belichick] says goes,” Judge said. “I'm not the head coach here. That's one certain thing. My job is to do whatever he says to do to the best of my ability and get the players better.”
The Patriots' offensive coaching situation has arguably been the storyline through the first three weeks of training camp. It appears that Patricia and Judge, along with Belichick, are the three coaches leading the group with no clear Josh McDaniels successor in place.
While new can be fun, there have been some rough moments and obvious signs of growing pains for the Patriots' new-look offense. A zone blocking scheme they implemented in the opening weeks of practice has led to a lot of uneasy moments for quarterback Mac Jones and the rest of the Patriots' offense.
Jones has shown some frustration on the practice field at times in the opening weeks of camp, though Patricia doesn't believe that's happening.
“Mac is great. I couldn't sense any of [frustration],” Patricia said. “All of us are growing and learning as we go. That's part of something that's new. That's one of the stages as you go through all of that. You're kind of a little bit uncertain as you go through it. You try to do the best you can to grind through it. That's why training camp is so important.”
A common theme of Patriots camp so far is how well the passing game has looked in 7-on-7s while struggling in 11-on-11s. When asked if he thought Jones was uncomfortable with the new things being implemented, Patricia didn't provide a yes-or-no answer.
“I think everybody's in the same boat in that situation,” Patricia said. “I think everybody's trying to get their rhythm and understand what we're trying to do and move in different directions. I think for all of us change is a little uncomfortable. Being comfortable in uncomfortable situations is what makes things able to progress and grow.”
Not only is not having McDaniels much different for many players on the Patriots' offense, coaching the offense is a new role for Patricia. In the first 14 years of his NFL coaching career, Patricia spent 12 of them coaching on defense before becoming the Lions' head coach in 2018. When he came back to New England last season, he assumed an advisor role.
Patricia is embracing the unknown in the process that he's working through with the Patriots' offense.
“For me, I've been here long enough to not worry about the end process and just enjoy the journey as we go through and enjoy the process as we learn and grow,” Patricia said. “If we try to put the cart before the horse and say, This is what it's going to be,' maybe we'll miss something along the way that we could've done different, modify, and improve on — and in the end, we'd be better in that aspect.”
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