In theory, a Patriots offense run by two coaches with 23 combined years of experience with the team should be quite effective. In practice, however, last year’s offense under Matt Patricia and Joe Judge showed worrying signs from the start.
According to reporting by the Boston Herald, the duo’s plan when longtime Patriots head coach Bill Belichick gave them the reins was to mesh the former playbook under Josh McDaniels with a Kyle Shanahan style offense, making their living off of zone runs and the play-action passes and roll-outs that can develop off of them.
The actual result: an offense that scored under 19 points per game for the first time since the 2000 season when Tom Brady was just a rookie buried on the depth chart.