Each NFL Team has a storyline heading into the 2024 Season. I will be covering all 32 Teams throughout Training Camp.
What better place to start than possibly the most underrated storyline of the year – Is “The Patriot Way” officially over? Or is this franchise ready to bite back with a new an improved Patriot Way – an updated Power Spread version – PSPW if you will?
A Fall from Grace
Belichick gone! McDaniels gone. Patricia, Vrabel, Judge, Boyer – all gone. OBrien back to College. Graham, Flores and Belichick’s own son, Steve, are hanging on as DCs with other teams. The dynasty that would not die suddenly seems dead over night!
Jerod Mayo is the LB Coach turned Head Coach. Another “Pat Man”, DeMarcus Covington, moves from DLine Coach to DC. The Offensive Coaching staff is a suddenly a bunch of McCarthy guys w/ some Shanahan/McVay, Reid and PS from the college ranks sprinkled in.
In the famous words of Vince Lombardi, “What the hell is going on out there!!?” The word in the streets is that this dynasty is dead. More emphatically, the NFL world doesn’t seem to want much to do with this Cultural Template that had worked for so long.
The Current Culture
The Talent – An Aging Team
It was never about one player. Brady was just smart enough to know it was time to leave.
The Team as a whole was aging. The new talent on D wasn’t terrible. The SpTeams newbies were “ok”. But the Offense was putrid. Starting with the Oline – then the WRs. The talent fell precipitously.
Not many QBs would have had a chance in this situation, but the replacements for Brady didn’t help. A once dynamic, but now over-the-hill vet in Cam Newton. Then a not-ready-for-primetime youngster in Matt Jones.
Right now the D & SpTeams are ahead of the Offense. It makes sense if you think about it. Belichick was always a D/ST guy first and foremost. If the Pats are to reset and refresh, this is where it begins.
The Scheme -What was once Cutting Edge, now needs a Jump Start!
Offense – Like him or not, Josh McDaniels was always an excellent Offensive Mind, but his PRO PS scheme wasn’t cutting edge anymore. Still, he was a good play-caller and top offensive coordinator.
Once he left, the Pats didn’t stand a chance. Patricia was a joke on the offensive side of the ball. OBrien is now better as a HC than an OC and certainly not ahead of the curve. Stale Scheme + big drop in Talent = Disaster!
Defense – Belichick’s schemes on D WERE ahead of the curve at one time, but haven’t been of late. Now, Mayo has recruited some Ravens’ guys to get an update to this scheme. Still, the fall of the Patriots never was about the D as much as the O.
SpTeams – The Kicking Game and even the Coverage & Return game hit some bad times as well, but again, this wasn’t nearly the disaster the Offense has been of late. The recent talent upgrade could make these Teams Special once again.
The Operation – Does The Patriot Way still work?
This is the biggest question. The Talent & Scheme are solvable and there are signs that Mayo is already on it. But …. Operation drives the Organization.
At it’s best, strong operations lead to talented players, working together with top notch schemes & gameplans, executing at a high level on a week to week basis. THIS is what the Patriot Way was all about.
There has been a big changeover with the Offensive and Special Teams Coaches. Plus an influx of youthful talent from recent drafts. But is the way the Pats do business, both on and off the field, still the best way to operate?
No outsider would have much insight to this question, but rest assured, Owner Robert Craft isn’t completely abandoing the Belichick System. If he were, then there would be no Belichick guys left at all. Especially not one who has now been promoted to Head Coach.
2024 – So what Now? PSPW??
2024 will be the newly updated Patriot Way and we will see how it works. It will certainly have more of a Power Spread flair in both Scheme and Culture. This team was ahead of the curve for so long, but now they are playing catch up to rejoin the NFL elite.
A true judgement of success will need more than one season for sure, but this is a big year. A team showing the ability to be competitive again will go a long way towards the Vision that Craft has for his franchise. If the bottom falls out, then there will be a ton of abuse thrown his way and possibly much change to follow.
A Franchise at a Crossroads – This is the hidden gem storyline of 2024 – which direction are the Pats headed? PSPW or tear it down and start over? A Reset & Refresh or an absolute Crash & Burn?
THE COACHES
Offensive Staff completely overhauled. Defense relatively the same. STeams new coaches.
HEAD COACH – An Organization Guy
Jerod Mayo – The Patriot Way: Played ’08-’15; LB Coach ’19-’23
Massive lack of Experience, but a Patriot Man who’s smart with scheme and culture and well respected. His calm but strong demeanor will be needed in this turbulent time.
He has no Asst HC, but some strong veteran coaches on Offense. McAdoo was a former HC. So far I like the moves Mayo has made concerning his Staff, the Draft and Free Agency. But he has a long way to go!
OFFENSE – Experienced Staff w/ an Updated Scheme
*Coaches and their Influences – Abbreviated names carry less influence. Caps carry more.
- OC – Alex VanPelt (Fairchild,Schonert,Olson,MCCARTHY,Lazor,ZTaylor/BrCallahan,Stefanski)
- SrOA – Ben McAdoo (MCCARTHY,JaGruden,KMoore/Nussmeier,Ruhle)
VanPelt & McAdoo are McCarthy guys, but have had recent influences of Shanahan(JaGruden)/McVay(ZTaylor) and some NFL (WCO) style Power Spread (Lazor,KMoore,Ruhle).
VanPelt was most recently Stefanski’s OC w/ Browns. Stefanski learned WCO under Mike Tice & Brad Childress. Childress was Andy Reid’s “Spread Coach” when Andy started bringing PS to his “BYU” WCO.
- QB – McCartney (Crowton,KShanahan,Stefanski/VPelt)
- RB – Embree (Chow,Mazzone,KShan,Chiav(Kingsbry),MiLaFleur)
- TE – Bicknell (GAILEY,CKelly,Rhle,ZTaylor,Carmichael)
You see Shanahan(LaFleur)/McVay(ZTaylor) influence w/ McCartney, Embree & Bicknell. McCartney was most recently coaching at Cleveland w/ VanPelt.
Early on, McCartney coached with Gary Crowton – an early Spread Guru. Bicknell’s dad – a big BC guy w/ Tom Coughlin – had ties to Crowton. Crowton was close w/ Chip Kelly and had a big influence on his PS ideas. You can see the younger Bicknell’s ties to CKelly after his long association with Chan Gailey.
Gailey was a unique innovated of Spread Option combined w/ the pro pass game. Sean Payton is also a big innovated of the Pro WC and WCO + PS of late. Carmichael was a long time coach under Payton.
When you add up the influences of these 3 experienced Coaches it equates to a ton of offensive football. A lot of Pro Style mixed w/ PS. Add in the Mazzone + Kingsbury influence on Embree and we have the foundation for Air Raid passing concepts, which the top Offensive Minds are combining these days with the WCO concepts.
- OL – Peters (Koet,Fass,Henn/MCoy,Whis,Stefanski/VPelt)
- AOL – RKugler (Sean,CPeterson,SClarkFB,Culley/PHam/DBarrett,McAdoo,Reich)
Again, a lot of experience here. Peters is another coach VanPelt brought with him from Cleveland. Kugler is part of a family(Sean) of NFL OLine coaches and has a mix of Flexbone(SClark) in his background w/ his Pro experience. Notice again – McAdoo – in there, along with Reich who is a Pederson guy, which is more Andy Reid ProPS.
- WR – Hughes (20-22:Kilts(BYU),Meyer/Herman,McDaniels,DeBoer)
- AWR – Underwood (Gleeson,Cignetti)
Hughes is a really interesting story. He has a BYU + OG PS(Meyer) background. Meyer knows Vrabel & Schiano knows Belichick. Hughes learned the Pro style PS of McDaniels. He then went to UW for one year under the best Offensive Mind in football right now – Kalen DeBoer.
If you want to hear me rave about DeBoer check out my College Playoff Posts last year or my PowerSpread Podcast. He’s the Future of Offensive Football. Hughes may have some great insight to share. Not only about Scheme – but overall Culture as well.
Underwood has worked with Sean Gleeson who has a very interesting PS Pro Scheme. It didn’t work out with Rutgers, but he is a very creative mind. Just another interesting piece to this Offensive Staff.
- OA – MMcCarthy (Cubit,McNulty,BSchott,CJohnson(Erickson,Payton)/EPrice,Caldwell, BrownTempo:JPerry(Friedgen,Keeler,Estes(CKelly),SGleeson)/VMarino(Allen(Duffner),RDay)
- OA – Young (Lindgren,McCarthy,Cushing(NW)/Kuceyeski(MCampbell))
As if things couldn’t get any more strange – Michael McCarthy is not remotely related to the famous Mike McCarthy from whom the two guys at the top have received most of their influence. Omar Young actually has experience under THAT McCarthy as well!
I had to learn about this younger, newer McCarthy. He has a great education in Pro Style Spread Offense starting with Bill Cubit. After a time with the old guru Caldwell @Detroit, he began to get another education at Brown University.
Brown’s HC James Perry has Pro Spread Guru Ralph Friedgen in his background, along with Spread OG, KC Keeler, and Estes, who coached with Chip @NewHampshire. This is where Gleeson got his experimenting spirit.
Vinnie Marino has been the OC w/ Brown and he has the Mark Duffner Run&Shoot in his background along with Chip’s friend Ryan Day and his PS Pro Scheme. This new McCarthy brings a lot of Variety in Experience to the table!
Lastly, Young also has a mix of PS and Pro. Lindgren is a PS PRO guy and Jonathan Smith’s OC @MSU. Young also has spent time with Northwestern & Toledo – 2 of the College OGs of Power Spread Offense.
I will not be breaking down all the Coaching Staff’s to this degree, but again, I think the Pats really have a hidden storyline here. The Offense may look very similar to what McDaniels was doing. Even if there’s added Tempo involved. Remember, Brady used to run the No-Huddle at NE long ago.
But there will be differences. More PS w/ Air Raid concepts to go with the usual WCO timing ideal. The overall concept for the Scheme will effect gameplans and play-calling on gameday. Make the game easier for their young talent – especially their new QB.
DEFENSE – Bill(00-23) & Steve Belichick gone
The big subtractions are obviously Bill and Steve Belichick. The other son, Brian, is still coaching DBs along with Mike Pellegrino. The Special Teams Coordinator is also new
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