The New England Patriots haven't been strangers to playing deception. They might be doing it again with their offensive coaching staff.
Patriots senior advisor and offensive line coach Matt Patricia appeared to be the de facto Josh McDaniels replacement, being the primary offensive play caller during New England's three preseason games. Yet, Patricia said not so fast when asked to confirm if he is actually calling plays on offense as the team transitions to the regular season.
“That was just the preseason,” Patricia said. “We’ll see what happens as we get towards the regular season here as we go forward. Right now, I’m just focused on today.”
Whoever is calling the plays once the regular season begins will have some work to do. In the preseason, the Patriots starters struggled against the backups of the Panthers and the Raiders. In seven drives, Mac Jones only led New England to two scores; a touchdown and a field goal. In the four non-scoring drives, three of them resulted in a three-and-out while the other ended with a Jones interception.
A big role in the Patriots' offensive struggles is their lack of success in running the new zone-blocking scheme. In the three stretch runs New England ran with the starting unit against Las Vegas, it either ran into stuffs or was penalized.
"I think you gain confidence through the course of the season and that's what we've really got to try to do."
Matt Patricia on Mac Jones' comfort level in the offensive line 🤔 pic.twitter.com/hjFXn6NwPO
— NBC Sports Boston's Patriots Coverage (@NBCSPatriots) August 29, 2022
Taking a similar tone to Bill Belichick, Patricia isn't stressing too much about the results in the preseason.
“The emphasis isn't so much on what the production looks like at the moment,” Patricia said. “When we work different runs in the run game, we have different techniques that we work, so whether it's zone techniques, or we run our gap schemes, or our double-team techniques, we just try to make sure our fundamentals are handled.”
The Patriots had some success running their usual gap run scheme during the preseason. Rhamondre Stevenson had 11 yards on two rushes up the middle and added a 13-yard rush off a pitch against the Raiders. A week earlier, Damien Harris ran for 18 yards on three carries against the Panthers.
Patricia noted that the coaching staff can always change things if something isn't working throughout the season.
“Right now, we'll run them into looks that maybe aren't great so that we can get the runs in and make sure we are getting enough reps at everything before the reps kind of get limited as we go forward,” Patricia said. “…That's the great part about training camp. We have the opportunity to do that and tweak things as we go. As the season goes, we'll always modify and adjust as needed based on not only scheme but personnel.”
Patriots quarterbacks coach Joe Judge, who appeared to be calling some plays on offense during the preseason opener but hasn't since also preached that the preseason is about the process and not the results.
“There may be an adjustment here or there, just based on how we match up with something,” Judge said. “But preseason games are really much more about getting out there and letting players play. It’s not really scheme-heavy, it’s not about game-planning against the opponent. We had competitive practices last week against the Raiders. That’s a great opportunity to go out there and try new things, to work some things you’ve got in the playbook and see how they develop.”
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