The New England Patriots off-season was quite memorable. Not in the sense of major moves being made, but in that it was absurdly quiet. After a big turnaround in 2021, finishing at 10-7 and qualifying for the playoffs. Bill Belichick and company did a lot more losing than gaining in the 2022 off-season. Losing key pieces of the roster like Kyle Van Noy, J.C. Jackson, Shaq Mason, and Chase Winovich to trade/free agency. And they lost an important member of the coaching staff in former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who has taken his talents to Las Vegas to be the head coach of the Raiders.
How did the Patriots respond to the massive exodus of players and coaches? Well, they signed a bunch of bargain bin free agents, brought back Joe Judge and had him team up with Matt Patricia on the offense, and had a questionable draft. Selecting guard Cole Strange out of Chattanooga in the first round, speedy wide receiver Tyquan Thornton in the third, and two undersized corners in Jack Jones and Marcus Jones in the later rounds. They also added two more running backs in Kevin Harris and Pierre Strong Jr. Belichick has taken a lot of fire for his actions this off-season from fans and media. And some of those criticisms may prove to be warranted, as the Patriots have opened training camp reportedly struggling. Especially on the offensive side of the ball.
Tonight, they play the New York Giants in their first preseason game of the year (odd, usually this matchup is saved for last). This will be the first chance to see this new squad in real action. There are some big questions surrounding this team. Here are my top three as we head into the first exhibition game of the year.
#1: Who’s calling plays?
This has been the big story for Boston sports radio all off-season. It had been determined that Judge or Patricia would be calling plays. But Belichick failed to address it when asked. The absence of McDaniels has left the Patriots in a bit of a pickle on offense. Nobody knew the offense better than he did. Now Mac Jones has somebody new in his ear as he enters his important second season. It’ll be interesting to see who officially is calling plays for one, and how the offense performs in their first real game-like environment.
#2: How do the new additions perform?
I think everybody will have their eyes on all the new pieces the Patriots brought in this past off-season. Guys like Strange, Thornton, Terrance Mitchell, and Malcolm Butler will be on the fans’ radar all night long. It’ll be hard to gauge what kind of role they might have in the regular season based on one preseason game, but it’ll be interesting to see what they’re capable of. We could also group younger players from previous draft classes in this discussion like Ronnie Perkins and Cameron McGrone, who saw zero playing time last year. There are plenty of new faces for Patriots fans to watch. We might even get a great performance from somebody we’ve never seen before.
Though as reported this morning, it’s a long shot we see too many starters out there in the first exhibition game of the year. Mac Jones and “most starters” will be watching along the sideline. So again, this is a good chance to see some faces we haven’t seen before.
#3: Just how hard is the offense struggling?
It’s no secret the Patriots’ offensive unit has struggled to start training camp. Mac Jones has been candid about this; captain David Andrews has been openly frustrated with the team’s poor start to the year. But now is the time to correct these things. The Pats have just a month to correct these issues before they get into real games. These are the times to make mistakes and learn from them. Let’s just hope this learning curve isn’t insurmountable. There will always be miscommunications when you’ve gone from one play caller to another.
Players have expressed the challenges of learning new terminology this off-season. And there will always be hiccups when you’ve gone from one set of play calls to another, but it’s hard to ignore all the negative reports coming out of Foxboro this summer. If this isn’t corrected by week one, it could be a long year. It will be extremely hard to gauge where the offense is at with the Patriots’ starters not even playing. But we might be able to tell something by watching the depth pieces run the same offensive concepts as the starters would be. So don’t panic yet, just keep an eye out for miscommunications and if they’re improved as the preseason moves along.
If you enjoyed this content, or hate it and want to argue with me, follow me on Twitter @KalebEmcee! Feel free to check out the work I do on Foxboro Beat! Also, read up on the rest of the NFL content Belly Up Sports has to offer here!
