What is going on with the Patriots?

[The Spaz]

I put this in the Bills thread because really this could effect the division as a whole next year. Well so far they have lost their QB coach and replaced that with a defensive coach :dizzy: , they have lost their LB coach and he became the DC for the Raiders and we took Steve Szabo as our DB coach who served as as assistant with them last year. It looks like their staff is getting picked over pretty good hopefully that's enough to have then fall off enough. Thoughts?:beer:

[Romes]

Maybe they got a bit worse in their coaching staff but Belichek, Weis, Crennel are still the keys. As long as they are around the Patriots are going to be good.

[generalmills]

I agree with Romes... the three headed monster is still in place...
I would trade positions with them in a heartbeat... and that is not an insult to the bills staff... they are just that good!!

[Dozerdog]

Position coaches are a dime-a-dozen. They basically concentrate on technique.

Coordinators and the head guydevise battle plans and strategy.

The troika will remain in place.

[Ickybaluky]

Josh McDaniel is the new QB coach. He started with them as a scout and has been a defensive assistant. Now he is moving over to offense. He played WR at Div III John Carroll University in college, and he was a QB and K in high school, so his background in offense. Working with DB's still requires a knowledge of coverages, just like at QB. I don't think it is unusual. For instance, Charlie Weis also started his NFL coaching career as a defensive assistant.

However, the Pats did not have a QB coach for Brady in 2001 (after Dick Rehbein died in training camp) or 2002. Last year they had John Hufnagel, but Brady still met weekly with Belichick and Weis for film study. They both have had a big impact on his development.

As for Ryan, he coached outside LB. Pepper Johnson was the inside LB coach, and if they don't hire another LB coach he can coach the entire group.

Steve Szabo was not an assistant for the Patriots, he was never hired. He was a volunteer working with the DL during training camp, but once the season started he did not work with the team.

That said, the promotion of Josh Williams is somewhat of a surprise, if only because he is barely older than Brady. However he originally joined the Pats as a scout before moving to the coaching staff, and he has made quite an impression with Belichick. Belichick has a way of giving a break to hard-working, young assistants and promoting them fast, in the manner he did with Kirk Ferentz, Scott O'Brien, Pat Hill and Scott Pioli in Cleveland.

Of interest to Bills fans, the Pats have another young offensive assistant named Nick Caserio (recently promoted to Pro Personnel director) who was the QB at John Carroll throwing passes to Josh Williams. There is a current NFL player who was their teammate who now is a Bill: LB London Fletcher.

[The Spaz]

Well whatever Steve Szabo still was with the Patriots in some capacity. An assistant is exactly what it is he helped out it doesn't have to mean he was paid to do this and that.

[Ickybaluky]

However, the premise of your thread was that the Pats coaching staff has taken some hard hits and it could effect the division. The changes are minor at best.

- They lost a QB coach, but the QBs met with Belichick and Weis as much as anyone, and have so since 2001.

- They lost their outside LB coach, but they retain Pepper Johnson who coaches inside LB and now probably will tab the whole group.

- They lost an unpaid volunteer assistant, but the DL will continue to be coached by Romeo Crennel, as he has done since taking over as the DC in 2001.

Really, considering it looked like they would come into the offseason losing both their coordinators, things are pretty good. The coaching staff should return and be as strong as ever.

Now, the Pats probably are going to lose some veteran players, and that will have an impact. Guys like Damien Woody, Antowain Smith, Ted Washington, Bobby Hamilton, Chris Akins, Kevin Faulk and Larry Centers can all sign elsewhere, and all were valuable players last season. In addition, guys like Willie McGinest, Ty Law, Troy Brown and Roman Phifer are all guys who may be cut loose if the team decides their high cap numbers can't be dealt with otherwise.

How far they go in re-signing or replacing those players and their leadership will be telling. If you want to start a thread outlining where the Pats may fall apart, you should start there. The coaching staff isn't a concern. Neither is the QB.

[The Spaz]

Yeah it's hard to fathom the Pats ever getting bad, I'm sorry.

[Ickybaluky]

I could fathom it. They have been bad before. Granted, they are on a roll right now, but last year about this time people were talking about Tampa Bay as a dynasty.

Things turn around so quick in the NFL. In '01, the Pats went from 5-11 the prior year and staring the season 0-2 while losing their starting QB, to being Super Bowl Champs. Carolina when from 1-15 to NFL Champs in 2 seasons. It's crazy.

I think looking at the Pats coaching staff as the potential key block to fall is wrong, although I think Romeo Crennel is far more important than people realize. Crennel would be a tough loss to recover from, although I think their offensive staff is good enough to survive Weis getting a job elsewhere.

Brady is another key. If he gets hurt, they are screwed. If he were hurt this year they would have struggled to finish .500.

[Ebenezer]

Originally posted by NE39
Brady is another key. If he gets hurt, they are screwed. If he were hurt this year they would have struggled to finish .500.

That can be said about 28 NFL teams.

[Ickybaluky]

Perhaps that can be said about a lot of other teams, but moreso the Pats. The Pats didn't have a reliable running game to fall back on, they put the pressure on Brady. In fact, the times the running game was effective it was because of the Pats ability to srpead the field and force teams to play the pass. The Pats pass to set up the run.

The whole key to the Pats offense is Brady's ability to read quickly and get rid of the ball accurately without making a ton of mistakes. His ability to read the play quickly and get it to the open guy is what makes it work. It masks weaknesses in their OL and makes up for the lack of a go-to guy. Because of Brady's ability to spread the ball around to so many different receivers, teams have trouble concentrating on one thing to shut down. Because they can spread teams out, it makes it hard for defenses to focus on the running game, so it masks that weakness as well.

On top of that, the Pats play a defensive/field-position game most of the time. That means they play a ton of close games, and it puts pressure on Brady to limit mistakes and convert on 3rd downs. If he were making a lot of mistakes, they would fall behind and wouldn't be able to play the style of game they are good at.

Normally, when a team spreads a defense out, it leaves the QB exposed. Defenses counter by blitzing the QB to create pressure and force turnovers. However, Brady reads the field, finds the open guy and gets rid of the ball so quick, teams give up a lot more big plays against the Pats when they blitz then they create mistakes.

I don't think there are too many guys who could execute the Pats offense as effectively as Brady. If he were to go down, they wouldn't be able to play their style of game and would be forced to do things they aren't as good at, like run the ball, while not being able to spread the field as much.