The New England Patriots had plenty of cooks in the offensive kitchen last season, and it didn't yield the best results. Apparently they've learned their lesson.
After a disastrous 2022 campaign in which senior football advisor/offensive line coach Matt Patricia collaborated with head coach Bill Belichick and quarterbacks coach Joe Judge to run the offense, the Patriots quickly course-corrected this offseason by hiring a legitimate offensive coordinator in Bill O'Brien.
O'Brien has already made his presence felt at New England's organized team activities, and Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer shared some interesting details about how the Patriots' operation looks much different this year.
"My understanding is (Mac) Jones has spent his time with O’Brien, with Belichick mostly delegating all things offense to his new/old coordinator, in a siloed-off model that feels, to those there, much more like how things were when Josh McDaniels was around a couple of years ago," Breer wrote Monday.
McDaniels was the Patriots' OC for the better part of two decades before leaving for the Las Vegas Raiders in 2022. Thanks to McDaniels' wealth of experience, Belichick didn't need to look over his OC's shoulder, and instead could devote more resources to other aspects of the team, such as defense, special teams and overall attention to detail.
That changed in 2022, however, as Belichick had to be very hands-on in an offense with Patricia calling plays for the first time in his NFL career. Perhaps it's no coincidence that New England's performance in other areas suffered -- the team committed 104 penalties, its most in a season since 2014, and had one of the league's worst special teams units -- with Belichick assuming extra responsibilities.
Patriots fans should be encouraged that O'Brien is operating like McDaniels by running the show at OTAs.
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"O'Brien was often by himself on the sideline while using a walkie talkie to communicate play-calls to quarterbacks," our Phil Perry wrote after the Patriots' first public OTA session. "Belichick watched closely, but instead of taking a hands-on approach, his hands were frequently twirling his whistle."
Jones finished second in the NFL's Rookie of the Year voting under McDaniels in 2021 while leading the Patriots to the postseason, so the hope is that O'Brien can help the team achieve a similar result in 2023.
