The departure of longtime Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels this offseason led head coach Bill Belichick to change up the team’s offensive system, with Matt Patricia — formerly a defensive coach — now calling the offensive plays. So far in training camp, it does not appear to be working.
Reporters on the scene at Patriots camp have described an ugly collection of mistakes and miscommunications, and Monday’s practice appeared to be the worst yet.
As Mark Daniels of the Providence Journal described it, “We’ve seen the offense look routinely disjointed as a new offensive coaching staff tries to install a new offense.”
Words like “disorganization” and “confusion” have been used by reporters at Patriots camp to describe how the Patriots’ offensive players appear to be picking up the new offense.
In Monday’s practice, the Patriots’ first four offensive snaps consisted of a false start by offensive tackle Trent Brown, followed by running back Damien Harris getting stuffed at the line of scrimmage, followed by an incompletion on a miscommunication between Mac Jones and Nelson Agholor, followed by a sack.
Sacks, of course, don’t truly happen in training camp because quarterbacks are off limits, but coaches blow the play dead when a defensive player would have sacked the quarterback, and those plays have been commonplace in Patriots camp. Jones is rarely having much time to throw as the Patriots’ defensive line dominates the offensive line.
There’s still more than a month before the start of the season, and perhaps all the kinks will get worked out by then. But the early reports are that the Patriots’ revamped offense is in rough shape.