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It looks like New England Patriots fans finally know who will be calling the plays on offense.
NFL Network’s Dov Kleiman reported that Matt Patricia will be calling plays during the 2022 regular season.
Patricia is primarily known for his work on the defensive side of the ball. Still, Patricia began his NFL coaching career as an offensive line coach in 2004 and 2005 before switching to the opposite side of the ball in 2006.
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While not boasting a ton of offensive experience, Patricia has confidence in his coaching abilities.
“One of the things I love about coaching is teaching,” Patricia said. “I love teaching the game. I really do. And I think that when you teach and you become a coach, especially here — coach (Belichick) does a great job of this: This is something I learned my first day in the door — you learn about all facets of the game. You learn about offense and defense and positions and technique and fundamentals. You put yourself in a situation where really you’re comfortable coaching anybody on the field at any time. Whatever side of the ball it is.
“And that’s different here. That’s not like that everywhere.”
What Are Players Saying About Patricia?
Patriots players appear to have Patricia’s back. Members of the offense have spoken highly of Patricia’s ability as a coach and that includes Mac Jones.
“I think obviously Coach Belichick’s done a great job kind of explaining exactly what we want to do as an offense, and Matty P has seen so many different defenses along with Coach Belichick, so it’s like they combine their knowledge of how to attack the defense,” Jones told reporters when asked about collaborating with Patricia on offense.
Jones also doesn’t appear to be too concerned with who is calling plays as his job is simply to execute them.
“I think plays are plays regardless of who’s telling you what the play is,” he said. “You just listen for the formation, you know all that stuff in the play and then you execute the play. There is a rhythm to it and [Belichick, Patricia, and Judge] all have good rhythm in their meetings and talking through the plays, ‘alright you start here, we go here,’ you know type thing.”
Is Patricia The Offensive Coordinator?
While he is calling plays, Patricia still isn’t the offensive coordinator and actually has the title of senior football advisor and offensive line coach. New England will be operating without an official coordinator on both offense and defense this season.
Belichick talked about why he isn’t big on titles.
“We’re not really big on titles and all that,” the head coach said. “It’s important that we all work together and create a good final product. That’s what we’re going to try to do. That’s what we’ve always done.”
With Patricia calling plays, fans in New England will be keeping a close eye on how the unit is doing and the offensive line coach may face some scrutiny if the offense is failing to put up points.