Coaches on the field

[rhubma]

Several days ago it was pointed out on the board and in blogs that the Pats have the smallest coaching staff in the league (11 coaches I think - not including the mysterious tape guru E. Adams). Reading T. Brady's Q & A today I was struck with how much he sounded like J. McDaniels equal. They share ideas and how it feels as if Brady is an extension of the OC on the field.

I then began to think about other positions with almost player/coaches on the field: I came up with DB (Harrison), LB (Vrabel, Bruschi and maybe Rosey), DL (Seymour is getting there), Special Teams (Izzo, Davis and T. Jones now), WR (T.Brown), and OL (a case could be made for Koppen and Light). Even with the huge losses of Willie, Adam V. and before that many others (Phifer, TJ, etc.), this team still has many acting coaches on the field.

My question is: do you think the smaller coaching staff is by design to give the on-field leaders more input? Many other teams have seemed to have the coaches saying "my way or the highway" to the players on the sidelines (the Rams come to mind with Martz in particular). With the Pats it seems that there is a little more give and take between selected players and the coaches, with the playing leaders being an extension of the coaches on the field and in the action.

Thoughts?

 

[Remix 6]

i dont think so. i think we have a small coaching staff because not everyone fits in Beoili's mind that is good enough to be a coach ..we like to keep personel we've had and once they start running out..we grab a familiar person not a random coach that has had good success..because our team is differen than others with our own 3-4..our offense is trying to let Brady what he did under Weiss and not change anything..its hard to find a coach that is good enough to fit in nicely without it being risky that our production goes down.

example: Ravens have 1 of the best D's for past several years: Leaders on the field: Ray Lewis. Ed Reed. Samari Rolle.Trevor Pryce(new).Chris McAllister. Derrick Mason. Jamal Lewis and few young guys trying to become leaders by learning from 1 of the best leaders on the field in Ray Lewis..hes 1 of the most vocal..of the most energized guys you'll see on the field. They have 17 coaches.

 

[rookBoston]

I dont think so, either.

I think BB is of the mindset that more people isn't more productive if it's the wrong people. Smart, hardworking people, positioned and empowered to make decisions can do the work of twice that number of idiots. His staff is loaded with young prodigies and veteran brainiacs. The genius factor on the staff is the real difference.

The reason there are so many smart players on the team (and you're completely right to include Koppen and Light)... and you can add some of the young guys like Claridge (a film rat) and Mills (another natural football genius) who are themselves coaching prospects, is because that type of player can relate, absorb and execute. It makes for good chemistry between the players and the coaching staff.

 

[maverick4]

re

This is my guess:

1. Their mysterious tape guy uses better technology or software that most other teams don't use. Thus, they don't need as many people to break down tape as other teams.

2. Bill Belichick is more involved in setting strategy and game planning than people realize. This limits the number of coaches needed.

The Pats only need 1 coach per position to run the drills. I was surprised that other teams used so many more coaches.

On the other hand, it could be that BB has many assistant coaches who do the jobs he used to do when he was in his 20's, but it isn't listed as an official position.

 

[the taildragger]

promoting from within at the top end + being raided = get thinner at the developmental end of the staff.

I expect them to bring in some low profile people this offseason to fill out the ranks and support those who were shuffled/promoted.

but yeah, when the QB is the same age as the OC, he is the OC.

in all seriousness, it's clearly more collaborative under McDaniels than it was under Weis...though things were moving that way under Weis as well -- the O has long been custom designed for Tom, and he simply has too much experience not to have major input on the gameplan from week to week.

biggest thing I took from the presser was the allusion to all the 2 TE sets this year...no big surprise, but that's the first time I can ever remember getting that kind of insight into the strategic stuff.

Baltimore is a complete mess. It's the exact thing the Pats are trying not to do with the coaching staff...but it gives Billick security because he's less accountable with all those other big name coaches. I have no problem with Washington's all-star staff since they have a HoF coach at the top of the tree...but Billick???, come on!

 

[ctpatsfan77]

I then began to think about other positions with almost player/coaches on the field: I came up with DB (Harrison), LB (Vrabel, Bruschi and maybe Rosey), DL (Seymour is getting there), Special Teams (Izzo, Davis and T. Jones now), WR (T.Brown), and OL (a case could be made for Koppen and Light). Even with the huge losses of Willie, Adam V. and before that many others (Phifer, TJ, etc.), this team still has many acting coaches on the field.

I *think* he's already there. . . . It's been said at least a couple of times that Belichick routinely spends one-on-one film time with Seymour.

 

[rhubma]

I *think* he's already there. . . . It's been said at least a couple of times that Belichick routinely spends one-on-one film time with Seymour.

I agree that Seymour has arrived at that status (in fact, I think it is one reason that the club felt that they could let Willie go maybe one year early). The only real question about Seymour is his age - he came into the league at 20 and I think he now is only 25 - it is pretty amazing that one can argue that a player under 26 is considered to be a 'coach on the field.' Even Koppen and Light are young at 28 or so.

Whether this thread about planning to consiously have the players more (actively) involved in club leadership is true or not, it is a statement about the type of player that the Pats seek out that we can even discuss this seriously.

In the future, it will be also interesting to see how many of the championship-run Pats become coaches after retirement as players. Vrabel already said he will be (and Rodney is looking at being a ref!).