The first year of the post-Bill Belichick era did not go very well for the New England Patriots. They were pretty much a mess from start to finish and they ended the year with the NFL’s fourth-worst record. One of the major problems was their decrepit offense, which checked in 31st in yards and 30th in points.
They Pats made significant changes this offseason, including to the coaching staff. They hired Mike Vrabel as their new head coach, and he brought back old friend Josh McDaniels to once again be New England’s offensive coordinator. One person who’s excited about that: second-year quarterback Drake Maye.
“So far, with McDaniels, it’s been awesome,” Maye said, via MassLive.com. “I think his way — he’s been an offensive coordinator and head coach. He does it at a high level. The stuff works. Kind of the proof is in the pudding. He’s coached a lot of different guys. He coached the best ever do it.
“So, it’s pretty cool getting to watch the old things of Tom [Brady], and seeing how he does it. A bunch of different guys play at a high level in the offense and not just Tom. So, it’s been cool to watch and learn the ways and learn the ins and outs of it.”
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McDaniels has been New England’s offensive coordinator in 13 of the last 19 seasons, with the team ranking inside the top 10 in yards eight times and points 12 times. Of course, he had Brady on his side for most of that time, and they obviously developed a rapport based on what worked and what didn’t over the course of a great many years.
Now, McDaniels has to develop that same rapport with Maye.
“Coach has been great with asking about stuff I like — stuff I like from last year that we ran. Stuff that I like that they do that I’ve seen on film,” Maye said. “I think it’ll be good for us because we’ll be able to do a lot. I think it’ll be a challenge to find out exactly what is or will be our stuff. That’s the fun part. That’s the chess match. Coach is great about finding matchups. I’m looking forward to starting to game plan. I know that’s far away, but I’m kind of getting the itch now.”
With all the additions the Patriots made on offense this offseason (not just McDaniels, but Stefon Diggs, Will Campbell, TreVeyon Henderson, Kyle Williams and more), it’ll certainly be more fun to game plan than it was last year. The more quality players you have on hand, the more the playbook opens up, after all. Given Maye’s immense talent and McDaniels’ history in New England, we should see a much better version of the offense this coming season.
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