In foxboro, a new era is unfolding as the new england patriots are built in the spirit of first-year coach jerod mayo rather than future first-ballot pro football hall of famer bill belichick. The offense has changed dramatically in this new era. Mayo went outside the franchise to find alex van pelt, the proverbial play-caller, rather than sticking with the status quo or bringing in someone familiar like former offensive coordinator josh mcdaniels.
And while the now-former cleveland browns coach is supposed to introduce the west-coast offense to new england, his initial press conference revealed that the whole process would not be just copy-and-paste. “we’re not exactly sure what pieces to this puzzle we’ll have, but i’m confident with the coaching staff that we’ll be able to put those people in the right place,” van pelt said about building his offense. “it’s not so much about scheme as it is about the players and their positioning.” “there are a lot of different schemes out there, but the best ones place the best players in positions to be successful,” van pelt said, referring to a patriots offense that if he just copied and pasted from cleveland, may not exactly fit with the team.
Van pelt denied that there would be similarities between what he helped run in cleveland and what he wants to do in new england even then. Van pelt said, “there are a lot of similarities.” “again, it’s those pieces of the puzzle: what’s available and how can we make those guys successful?” says the author. But there will be similarities, and i’ve taken pieces of a variety of offenses over my career and blended them into what’s best for us at the time.” This may be a welcome tidbit for fans who just finished a miserable season with a stumbling offense.
The patriots seem to have gotten worse after belichick’s original plan for replacing mcdaniels failed in the offseason, despite bill o’brien’s hiring in the offseason, who was supposed to help the team out offensively in new england. The patriots finished the season second-to-last in points per game, averaging just 13.9, while finishing at no. 1 in the standings. In third-down conversions, 30 yards per game, and 31st.
