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T
he big question facing the New England Patriots ahead of the 2022 NFL regular season is who will be calling plays and replacing Josh McDaniels. It seems that every week the answer changes but the new favorite is Matt Patricia.
Patricia has primarily been a defensive coach during his two stints in New England. The defensive mastermind did so well that he earned himself a shot at a head coaching job with the Detroit Lions.
Unfortunately for the man with a pencil forever wedged atop his ear, his time in Detroit didn’t go well. In three seasons, he went 13-29 and ended up without a job.
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But now Patricia is back in New England. After one season, the coach is now on the offensive side of the ball.
Patricia has been working with the offensive line so far at voluntary workouts while Joe Judge worked with Mac Jones. At one point it seemed like Judge was the leader to call plays but according to Jeff Howe of The Athletic, Patricia is now appearing to be the one who is calling plays.
“Belichick has not yet decided who will call the plays during the season, but it’s trending in Patricia’s direction according to a source,” said Howe. “Patricia and Judge are each preparing for the possibility of calling plays, but Patricia’s workload this spring has suggested he’s the early favorite to handle that responsibility.”
A “Streamlined” System
With McDaniels departure and a new play caller, Patriots fans won’t be surprised that there have been some changes made to the offense. Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Bill Belichick said that things will continue to change on offense as they have for multiple years.
“We’ve had a lot of changes offensively the last couple of years,” Belichick said. “It’s a good time to streamline things. We did it on defense a few years ago.”
Previously, Patriots wide receiver Kendrick Bourne indicated that changes were coming to the offense in 2022.
“New words, new terminology,” said Bourne. “That’s the biggest thing. Football is football; I say it all the time. It’s lines on the paper, and you follow the lines, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to be a football player, and you have to sometimes adjust.”
In contrast to Howe’s reporting, Bourne mentioned Judge when talking about the changes on offense.
“I think he’s putting us in position to be successful, so I’m excited so far,” Bourne told ESPN’s Mike Reiss.
Learning From the Best
While Patricia doesn’t have a ton of experience on offense, he said that learning from Dante Scarnecchia helped prepare him to coach the offensive line.
“I don’t care what position you coach in the NFL, you spend time with Dante you automatically become a better coach,” Patricia said.
So for now at least it appears that Patricia will be calling plays and have the keys to the Patriots offense. In a crucial year for Jones, it will be interesting to see how well (or poorly) Patricia does coaching on offense.