If you take it from Josh McDaniels, the Patriots' strange decision-making process on the offensive coaching staff -- naming Matt Patricia, who's best known for coaching defense, and ex-special teams coordinator Joe Judge to prominent coaching positions on that side of the ball -- isn't as surprising as it seems.
In fact, back in 2005, Belichick did something similar with a young coach who had a very limited experience as an offensive coach (and coaching in general): McDaniels himself.
“I was in a position once where I was on the defensive side of the ball for a couple years, then I moved over and coached quarterbacks for one year. Then all of a sudden, the next thing I’m doing is being ready to call the offense after being on the offensive side for one year. And I remember nobody believing that was really the case," McDaniels told reporters before Wednesday's joint practice between the Patriots and the Raiders.
15 years later, McDaniels left his post as the Patriots' offensive coordinator for the second time to pursue a head-coaching opportunity -- this time with the Raiders -- while Belichick is pulling the strings to replace him even as he once had McDaniels replace former offensive coordinator Charlie Weis.
Patricia and Judge, however, wouldn't have been on many peoples' short lists to fulfill that task -- not least because the offenses they oversaw as head coaches (Patricia with Detroit and Judge with the New York Giants) were among the worst in football.
But as McDaniels knows, there's always a method to the madness.
“I think at the end of the day, Bill has a plan for whatever he wants to do," the Raiders coach said when asked about how the Patriots are succeeding him. "That plan sometimes — he has foresight that some of the rest of us don’t have. I didn’t have it when he pushed me ahead and helped me do that. I’ve got a lot of friends over there, I’ve got a lot of people over there that I have a tremendous amount of respect for. Coaching is coaching. You learn something new every day. I don’t have every answer on offense. I don’t have every answer on defense or in the special teams area. That’s why you have a staff: So you work together and try to produce the best result you can."
So far, those results on offense have been highly inconsistent, with more on the "bad" side of things than the good. But the Patriots reportedly finished Tuesday's practice with a strong two-minute drill capped off by a Mac Jones touchdown throw to Kendrick Bourne.
(Side note: no fights!)
McDaniels also noted he saw "plenty" of familiar concepts from the Patriots' offense in practice, though that might be gamesmanship from Belichick and Co. -- keeping some of the offense's newer elements secret for their December 18 matchup.
By that point, we'll likely have a better picture of what this offense really is -- and how much they miss the man who will be coaching on the opposite sideline that day.
