Patriots Talk Podcast

How will McDaniels help Pats' offense? Hoyer shares fascinating insight

"Learning that Patriots system was always kind of like seeing behind the curtain a little bit."

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Tom E. Curran reacts to reports that the Patriots are hiring back Josh McDaniels to be their next offensive coordinator under Mike Vrabel.

What's old is new again in New England.

The Patriots reportedly are hiring Josh McDaniels as their new offensive coordinator under Mike Vrabel in what will mark McDaniels' third stint with the franchise.

While McDaniels is very familiar with Foxboro, it's notable that he's never overlapped in his coaching career with Vrabel, whose defensive coordinator hire, Terrell Williams, spent six seasons with Vrabel in Tennessee. So, why is McDaniels the right man for the job in New England, and why did Vrabel entrust McDaniels to work with prized 22-year-old quarterback Drake Maye?

Former Patriots quarterback Brian Hoyer spent his first three NFL seasons (2009-11) working with McDaniels in New England and reunited with him for two more seasons in 2017 and 2018. On the latest episode of the Patriots Talk Podcast with Tom E. Curran, Hoyer explained what separated McDaniels' offenses from many others in the NFL.

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"Josh would always say, 'If you continue to do the same thing, these coaches and the defenses are too good. They're going to figure out what you're doing, and they're going to figure out a way to stop it. So, you have to always be ahead of the curve,'" Hoyer said.

"It's kind of a 'complacency is death' idea," Hoyer added "... The Patriots system of all these years, it was more about, 'What does the defense do this week, and what plays are going to expose that defense?' So, we may have a great play, and it may be great against the New York Giants, but it may not work against the next four teams, so you just don't put it in.

"... The one thing that the Patriots system (under McDaniels) allowed you to do was be so much more adaptable based on who you were playing."

Of course, McDaniels had the benefit of working with Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback of all time who had a superhuman ability to process the game. But McDaniels also coached the likes of Hoyer, Matt Cassel, Jimmy Garoppolo, Jacoby Brissett, Cam Newton and, most recently, Mac Jones. And as Hoyer explained, one of McDaniels' greatest strengths was letting any QB he coached have more agency in play-calling at the line of scrimmage.

"Learning that Patriots system was always kind of like seeing behind the curtain a little bit," Hoyer said. "And when you're given that as a quarterback, now, it's a lot of hard work to understand and learn how to do that stuff, but once you understand it, you don't ever want that taken away from you -- that ability to basically get up there on every single play and be in charge of everything. (You can) say what the front is, make out the Mike point, adjust the protection, make an audible, all of those things.

"That's how I learned my first four years, and then I went to a few other systems and I was like, 'I just snap the ball and run the play?' I felt like I was restricted in a way, and it was hard for me to adjust back to that, because when you put in the work to basically be the person in charge out there and now those are all delegated to some other people, it feels uncomfortable."

Hoyer added that if he had to pick an ideal offense to start in Day 1 of his NFL career, he'd choose McDaniels' system.

"I would always pick that system because it teaches you so much about the game," Hoyer said. "It puts a lot of responsibility on you, but I think as a quarterback, once you get that responsibility, you don't want to give it away."

Maye learned plenty from former offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt as a rookie, but it sounds like his QB education could be fast-tracked under McDaniels, which hopefully should benefit both he and the Patriots in the long run.

Also in this episode:

  • What position should the Patriots go after with the No. 4 pick?
  • Hoyer's three qualities that make a great offensive coordinator
  • Common denominator for the final 4 NFL teams left in the playoffs
  • Are the Commanders a good comp for the Patriots right now?
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