After Josh McDaniels left the Patriots in 2022, there were many questions surrounding the implementation of a new offense under the succeeding offensive coordinator and what it might look like. The team ran the same scheme for most of the previous two decades, with McDaniels under the helm for much of it.
With him moving on to become a head coach again and Bill Belichick seemingly having no plan in place to prepare for the significant departure, it seemed like a recipe for disaster for a young offense led by Mac Jones.
Things got worse, as we saw, with Matt Patricia being moved into the play-calling role despite his lack of involvement with an offense throughout his career. That was a total disaster, which prompted Belichick to hire Bill O’Brien the following year, which also didn’t work out as many had hoped.
Now that Belichick and most of his staff are gone, Jerod Mayo brought in a new offensive coordinator to run the show, Alex Van Pelt. He most recently worked for the Browns in the same role from 2020 to 2023 and has a much different style than the Patriots are accustomed to.
This calls some player’s future roles into question, but it also might mean the Patriots have already tipped their cards to their opponents regarding the type of offense they plan to utilize.
Patriots may have inadvertently revealed offensive plans for 2024
The panel of experts on ESPN discussed the type of offense the Patriots will go with under Van Pelt last month, which former head coach Herm Edwards believes they already revealed based on a recent offseason move.
Because Eliot Wolf signed Rhamondre Stevenson to a contract extension, Edwards suggests the offense will go through the running back, similar to how Tom Brady’s career began in 2000.
This offense is gonna run through the running back. This is going to be one of those grind-out offenses where we’re going to hammer the ball, set up the play-action pass. We’re not going to turn the ball over. We’re going to play good defense.
Does that sound kind of familiar when Tom Brady was the quarterback there early in his career, before he became Captain America?”
.@HermEdwards says the Patriots' four-year, $36M deal with Rhamondre Stevenson makes sense for New England.
"This offense is gonna run through the running back." 👀 pic.twitter.com/vdR3bCsVto
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) June 20, 2024
Given how the Patriots have prioritized the run game over the last few years, it’s not much of a revelation for Edwards to suggest that will continue. It would make sense with who they will have in the backfield, with Stevenson remaining as the RB1 and will be joined by another dual-threat running back in Antonio Gibson.
On top of continuing to utilize some of their best offensive weapons, relying on the run game makes a lot of sense for Jacoby Brissett, who isn’t the strongest quarterback in the league, and for rookie Drake Maye, whenever he is handed the reins.
Having legitimate threats on the ground who can also be involved in the passing game is a quarterback’s dream. This makes Brissett and Maye’s job much easier as they deal with other offensive weaknesses elsewhere.
But all of this doesn’t seem like a secret, regardless of some analysts or fans feeling it’s a bad sign for opponents to seemingly know the type of offense the Patriots plan to run well before the season begins. That can be said about every team in the league with a consistent offensive coordinator, so it’s not new information.
