The New England Patriots’ coaching situation is beginning to have more twists and turns than an Agatha Christie novel. Matt Patricia has clearly struggled as the team’s offensive play-caller, but he might not be the one actually designing the team’s passing game.
During an appearance on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Felger and Mazz,” Boston Sports Journal’s Greg Bedard opened up on the possibility that Patricia’s former assistant during his tenure as head coach for the Detroit Lions, Evan Rothstein, has been the brains behind the passing concepts in New England.
“So, I was told this the other day, and I don’t know it 100% fact. It’s tough to get information out of there,” said Bedard, via NESN’s Zack Cox. “But I heard that Evan Rothstein, who is Matt Patricia’s nerd from Detroit who has never coached a position, college or the NFL, is spearheading the pass-game concepts for the Patriots.”
It’s important to note that even though Rothstein has some offensive experience on his resume, he predominantly focused on the defensive side of the ball during his time working under Patricia.
If true, this is just one more decision that’ll go into the what was coach Bill Belichick thinking pile.
Patricia being thrown in as the offensive play-caller was already confusing enough, but now, the possibility that the same could be true for a predominantly defensive assistant would further illuminate everything wrong with the Patriots this season.
“(This) is interesting,” said Bedard, “because in Detroit, he was on the defensive side with Matt, which is Matt’s expertise. Even there’s a quote from the Detroit Free Press where Darrell Bevell, the offensive coordinator, is talking about, ‘(Rothstein) is our most knowledgeable in terms of our defense and what we’re really doing all the way across the board.’
“And now this is another example of, well, good coaches, smart minds. Even though the area where he has the most expertise is defense, all of a sudden this year it’s OK for him to switch over to offense and design the pass concepts for Matt Patricia, which have worked really, really well.”
Yes, that was indeed sarcasm if you’re wondering.
It’s hard not to feel bad for Patriots quarterback Mac Jones given everything that’s happened within the last year with the team.
He was coming off a promising Pro Bowl season just to have his first offensive coordinator in the NFL replaced by a longtime defensive coordinator, with potentially a former defensive assistant designing his passing plays.
Yikes.
In a year’s time, the Patriots have written the book on how to ruin a second-year quarterback.
