Patriots’ offensive players downplay shift to new blocking scheme

While a lot of the personnel has stayed the same, the New England Patriots will still look drastically different on offense heading into the 2024 season. A big reason for that is their offensive shift away from the base offense previous head coach Bill Belichick used to run for the last two-plus decades.

Under new offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, the expectation is that more West Coast elements will be added to the mix. In addition, the blocking up front will put a greater focus on outside zone rather than the previously-established gap blocks.

On paper, those changes appear like a full 180 away from the previous scheme. As far as blocking is concerned, however, the Patriots’ players…