The NFL’s best offensive play-callers don’t just come armed with a good game plan every Sunday.
The best play-callers also exude an intangible quality that serves as an X-factor during games. It’s a sense, a feel of what to call based on what they see from the defense.
It’s an ability to know when to go off script, and zig when the other team zags. They know how to counter, how to make adjustments to keep the chains moving. They also know which players in their stable to use more frequently than others.
Charlie Weis, the Patriots offensive coordinator for the first three Super Bowl wins, had a great feel for calling games.
He always knew the best time to throw the long ball, and go for the big play. He always knew who to go to, not to mention who to target on the opposing team.
Bill O’Brien and Josh McDaniels also had a pretty good idea how to pick a defense apart, who to use and what plays would be effective.
They tended to come up with the right play, whether it was first down, or fourth down.
Matt Patricia?
How can he possibly know? How can he possibly have a feel for what to call in certain situations? How can he lead Mac Jones?
He’s never done it before. He’s learning on the fly.
It doesn’t matter if he’s called defensive plays. Calling the offense is a completely different animal.
Maybe during the week, the collective of Patricia, Bill Belichick and Joe Judge put a script together for the first series of offensive plays called in a game. So basically, Patricia just goes down the line, reading from a list.
But what happens after that?
Game 1 gave us an indication for what’s in store.
What we saw was a very simplistic offense. There were no bells and whistles. There was no imagination. It was just basic stuff. The first series was nice, but it all fell apart after Jones threw an interception on a jump ball in the end zone.
What was Patricia thinking going after Xavien Howard, the Dolphins’ top corner and one of the best in the game?
The Pats went punt, fumble, punt on the three possessions following the pick. They only had one productive series the rest of the game.
Maybe that shouldn’t come as a surprise, as Patricia only utilized two personnel packages the entire game. Let’s just say the Dolphins defense wasn’t stressed too much, and weren’t fooled by anything Patricia threw at them.
Damien Woody, a former Patriots offensive lineman and current ESPN analyst, agreed it’s tough to expect Patricia to be a play-calling whiz right away, if at all, this season.
“There’s a nuance to calling offensive plays. There’s a flow,” Woody said when reached Tuesday. “What guy’s hot? Who’s not? When to take certain shots. Knowing what defenses are, knowing what they’re coming with, and knowing the play to counter that.”
Patricia had no counters.
Granted, he was forced to throw the ball more with the Patriots behind, as Damien Harris and Rhamondre Stevenson only had 17 rushes combined.
Still, Patricia made a few curious calls en route to seeing the Patriots offense score just seven points against the Dolphins.
Does anyone believe McDaniels would have called a Ty Montgomery run on 2nd-and-17 from the Miami 47 right before the half?
While there were only six seconds left on the clock, there wasn’t even a thought to make a quick sideline pass to try and get into field goal range. Just play it safe and get off the field without further damage.
How about having the ability to scheme his receivers open? McDaniels did that constantly with receivers who couldn’t separate.
Of course, there’s an execution element to all of this. It doesn’t matter what Patricia calls if the players can’t execute. Thanks to a leaky offensive line, the Patriots were also missing the execution component at times on Sunday.
But it still largely falls back on the play-caller.
“There’s so much that goes into being an offensive coordinator,” said Woody. “And to think that a guy who’s been on the defensive side of the football, pretty much a defensive coordinator for much of his career, is now all of a sudden going to be the primary play-caller in the National Football League? C’mon.”
Patricia said Tuesday it was simply a matter of him doing his best no matter what assignment Bill Belichick gives him. He said he was on staff and learned from Weis when he was calling the plays for Tom Brady, and also observed McDaniels.
So he believes he has some background. But not much.
Right now, it just looks like he’s been dealt a losing hand having to coach the offensive line, which has struggled mightily all summer, and also run the offense.
Belichick believes a good coach can teach any phase of the game, whether he specializes in the phase or not.
Calling offensive plays, however, requires a lot more. It takes time, something Patricia doesn’t have.
“This isn’t a knock on Matt Patricia’s intellect, but it’s a skill,” Woody went on. “Being an offensive play-caller, that’s something you develop over time. You can’t just walk into it … it’s just not that simple.”
An offensive play-caller has to understand how to use his assets. And, he has to be able to use those assets creatively.
See Kendrick Bourne.
The receiver was late to a squad meeting before the Panthers preseason game, and hasn’t been able to dig himself out of the doghouse ever since. Or maybe it’s all scheme-related?
What does Patricia need to see? How much time has to pass before Bourne gets on the field?
He’s their most explosive threat. He has the best chance to beat man coverage.
And yet, Patricia kept him standing on the sideline before inserting him for two plays in the fourth quarter, one being a 41-yard completion, the lone explosive play of the day for the Patriots.
With the Patriots, with second-year quarterback Jones, there’s just no room for having a play-caller in training. But that’s where they’re at heading into Week 2.
