Who better to explain the difference between the new Patriots' offense and the old system than a guy who has spent most of his career -- including now -- practicing against the old version and just spent a week observing the new tweaks?
Fortunately, that player does exist in the form of Duron Harmon, a former Patriot who now plays for the same Las Vegas Raiders the Patriots just held joint practices with this week.
Via Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald, Harmon dropped some firsthand knowledge about what's new with the New England offense this week.
Specifically, the tweaks the former third-round pick of the Patriots mentioned seemed more philosophical than purely schematic in nature.
“The stacks and motions, we all know that’s big in Josh’s offense. We get that every day when we practice here. Their empty (formation package) is the same. I would just say it’s more so how they’re attacking,” Harmon said, according to the Herald. “They obviously can run the ball, and I think they’re making a big emphasis on being able to run the ball because they’ve got really good backs, and they want to get them the ball.
“And that’s the main difference. Really sticking to bigger personnel, and then when they want to throw the ball, they can go to lighter personnel.”
On one hand, that doesn't sound too different from what the Patriots were last season. New England ran the football quite a bit in 2021 and appears likely to do so again in 2022 with Damien Harris and Rhamondre Stevenson.
But where those comments do stand out some is the "heavier" personnel part. In particular, the Patriots have used a good deal more "12" personnel (one running back, two tight ends) in practice as opposed to the old "21" grouping that employed a fullback such as Jakob Johnson. (Perhaps this is also a tacit acknowledgment that using two tight ends prominently wasn't a major emphasis for McDaniels last year even when accounting for Jonnu Smith's slow acclimation to the offense.)
From those formations, the Patriots have shown they can either line up Smith, whom Harmon praised this week, and Hunter Henry on the line of scrimmage to help in the run game or spread them out as mismatches in the passing game.
New England does, of course, run their share of three-receiver looks and likes to go to those formations on passing downs. But the physicality of the offense, as well as where the Patriots' offense is trying to attack defenses, stood out to Harmon in Las Vegas.
"I’d say that’s the main thing. Physical team, they want to run the ball, and do their job, and make plays. They want to make plays on the outside," the defensive back explained. "They want to be a physical offense, and they have the personnel to be a physical offense. They did a good job of making us have to stand up to them.”
The Patriots' offensive line is still making it too easy for opponents to "stand up to them" right now with the run game especially looking rough with the season right around the corner. But the desire to push the game to the boundaries as opposed to playing solely between the tackles has been apparent since the team first took the field back in OTAs. Now, it's just a matter of executing that vision on the field.
Interestingly, Harmon also echoed Mac Jones' praise of de facto offensive coordinator Matt Patricia from last week, calling Patricia -- who also brought him to Detroit via trade in 2020 -- "one of the smartest and hardest-working coaches he knows."
Making Patricia's highly regarded intelligence translate into the Patriots actually implementing these new offensive elements is still a work in progress. But if it does, New England's offensive unit might eventually show signs of being more dynamic than it was last year -- and have a few more tricks up its sleeve both on the ground and threw the air.
You can bet the Patriots didn't show the Raiders their whole offense this week as the two teams play each other December 18 down in Vegas, so perhaps we'll see more of those changes then.
