Bill Belichick on offensive play caller: “We’re going through a process”

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Patriots coach Bill Belichick has a new pull-string saying, to go along with “on to Cincinnati,” “day-to-day,” and “it’s already been addressed,” and others that aren’t currently coming to mind.

We’re going through a process.

He used that one three times when explaining the fact that two different assistant coaches called offensive plays during Thursday night’s preseason opener, against the Giants.

We’ll defer to the questions and answers on the subject, as distributed by the team after the game.

Q: We saw both Matt Patricia and Joe Judge taking turns on play call duty tonight on the offense. Is that the plan moving forward, having them switch back and forth, and do you plan on naming a single guy or going with both?

BB: Yeah, well, we did this game. We did a lot of things in this game that are going to be beneficial in the long run, whether it was on the coaching staff, playing time, players that played and so forth. That’s all part of the process.

Q: Bill, what were some of the benefits of having Joe and Matt call plays tonight?

BB: I thought it would be a good opportunity for us to do that.

Q: Do you know if one will call plays when the regular season arrives?

BB: Yeah, don’t worry about that. We’ll work it out.

Q: Have you decided?

BB: We’re going through a process. Just like everything else on this team. . . .

Q: You mentioned earlier with the offensive play caller you’re going through a process. What do you need to see —

BB: I don’t need to see anything, just we’re going through a process. Simple as that.

Q: It’s just a little bit of an unusual situation for us that have watched you guys before —

BB: What do you want me to do?

Q: I guess we’re just looking for a little clarity as to why we’re seeing what we’re seeing.

BB: Great. Yeah. Going through a process.

The most logical conclusion is that the six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach wanted to give each one of them a try at calling plays, so that he can analyze their performance — the same way he’d watch film of a player. That would seem to be part of the process.

With Belichick, however, nothing can be ruled out. Maybe the process results in both guys calling plays during the regular season, or perhaps alternating during a given game.

Regardless, an unexpected mystery continues in New England. In 30 days, we’ll see whether it’s Patricia or Judge or both or someone else calling offensive plays in the regular-season opener against the Dolphins.