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The New England Patriots coaching staff has remained a mystery ahead of the 2022 NFL season but now fans got some clarity.
Since the departure of Josh McDaniels, fans have known little about how the coaching staff will operate. Everyone wanted to know who would be calling plays and controlling the offense in 2022.
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The same can be said for the defense. While there wasn’t a lot of turnover, no one knew who the main guy on defense will be.
But on Thursday the Patriots announced their coaching titles for the upcoming season and Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer detailed the specifics.
The @Patriots have announced coaching staff titles (finally) …
• Joe Judge is offensive ass’t/quarterbacks.
• Matt Patricia is senior football advisor/offensive line.
• Steve Belichick and Jerod Mayo are LBs coaches.
So … New England doesn’t have an OC or DC (by title).
This is the fourth straight year that New England hasn’t named an offensive or defensive coordinator.
Who Will Be Running Things on Offense for the Patriots?
With this announcement, it appears that Joe Judge will have the inside line on calling plays as the offensive/quarterbacks assistant. This will be a new role for Judge who has spent most of his career as a special teams coach.
Patricia actually has some experience in his new role as senior football advisor and offensive line assistant. While he hasn’t coached an offensive position since 2005, he was an assistant offensive line coach that year.
While there is some clarity, Patriots fans will likely be nervous about what this means for Mac Jones. 2022 will be an important season for the quarterback.
Jones is coming off an impressive rookie season where he will be looking to take the next step in his career. After leading rookies in passing touchdowns, how will he manage figuring out a new offense and having a different voice in his ear?
To the quarterback’s credit, he has been putting in a lot of work this offseason and is “taking control” of the offense heading into the season according to Jeff Howe of The Athletic.
The lack of direction in clarity could present some problems for Jones and the offense but fans will have to wait and see if they will be able to overcome these obstacles.
What About the Patriots Defense?
There once again isn’t any clarity on defense with Steve Belichick and Jerod Mayo having the same roles. Just like on offense, fans will be wondering who is calling plays and really controlling things.
Mayo has spent the last three seasons as the inside linebackers coach for the Patriots, while the younger Belichick has been the outside linebackers coach since the 2020 season.
The duo will have a big challenge in 2022 as they deal with the loss of J.C. Jackson. New England’s defense also appears to have lost veteran Dont’a Hightower who has yet to re-sign and Kyle Van Noy also departed.
But there is no doubt that this could be a challenging season for the Patriots on both sides of the ball. New England has lost some supreme talent on the field as well as on the sidelines. The 2022 coaching staff definitely has their work cut out for them.