Schefter: Belichick to devote more time to offense

[BPF]

Not sure if this has been posted. I'm extremely busy today and haven't been able to properly check but it's something we all kind of thought would take place.

NFL.com Blogs Blog Archive Expect Belichick to devote time to offense

In 2005, after Charlie Weis left New England for the head-coaching job at Notre Dame, the Patriots didn’t hire another offensive coordinator to fill his position. Instead, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick devoted plenty of time to the job and worked in conjuction with his quarterbacks coach, Josh McDaniels.

A similar scenario is now playing out. McDaniels has accepted the Broncos’ head-coaching job, and Belichick is once again expected to devote plenty of time to the job. But he also will work in conjuction with Bill O’Brien, who was promoted this month from wide receivers coach to quarterbacks coach.

O’Brien is expected to be groomed as New England’s new McDaniels, a coach Belichick can entrust with his offense. It’s a tremendous responsibility for a 39-year-old assistant who joined the Patriots’ staff in 2007 after 14 seasons of coaching college football. O’Brien used to coach at Georgia Tech, Maryland and Duke, where Belichick and the Patriots found him.

Until now, O’Brien has been an unknown. But that, like the faces on the Patriots’ coaching staff, is about to change.

 

[ScottieC]

Not sure if this has been posted. I'm extremely busy today and haven't been able to properly check but it's something we all kind of thought would take place.

NFL.com Blogs Blog Archive Expect Belichick to devote time to offense

Here too:

ProFootballTalk.com - BELICHICK TAKING ON MORE OFFENSIVE RESPONSIBILITIES

 

[DarrylS]

Sounds like the same sitz when Weiss left... BB will do a good job..

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Yeah, it'll be nice to see BB actually, you know, looking at the offense while it's on the field.

 

[Kontradiction]

We may see a little bit of a dropoff here. According to pro-football-reference.com, the offense was ranked 4th in the NFL with Weis at the helm. In 2005, with BB sharing duties with McDaniels, the offense was ranked 10th. Still pretty good, but a noticeable dropoff from the year before. How much that had to do with injuries, I'm not sure. All I know is that McDaniels was pretty good at what he did, as evidenced by the way he helped groom Cassel this year. Let's hope O'Brien is a chip off the ol' block.

 

[maverick4]

Belichick was the brains behind the explosive offense. Cassels' development was more due to Belichick than any other coach, and proof of that is the similar development of Brady when McDaniels wasn't there. The other coaches just run Belichick's development training.

The drop off in production was more due to the fact that Corey Dillon aged 100 years after the 2004 season and because we lost some key offensive personnel.

 

[Kontradiction]

Belichick was the brains behind the explosive offense. Cassels' development was more due to Belichick than any other coach, and proof of that is the similar development of Brady when McDaniels wasn't there. The other coaches just run Belichick's development training.

The drop off in production was more due to the fact that Corey Dillon aged 100 years after the 2004 season and because we lost some key offensive personnel.

I think BB and McDaniels had a lot to do with Cassel's development. Who had more to do with it we'll never know because we are not a part of the organization outside of being fans. If you think BB was truly the BRAINS behind his development, why were he and McD in a heat argument over the offensive scheme at halftime of the Chargers game? I wasn't there but I can speculate that a lot of it had to do with the vanilla offensive gameplan and eliminating a lot of the deep stuff.

Feel free to address this but keep in mind that we're just speculating.

 

[BradyManny]

You know you're in good hands when Bill Belichick is your plan B. Just a good reminder that we'll deal w the loss of McD OK.

 

[Mack Herron]

In BB We Trust. But does that leave less of him and more DP for the D?

 

[DarrylS]

Yeah, it'll be nice to see BB actually, you know, looking at the offense while it's on the field.

Suspect that he had enough confidence in McDaniels and the O side of the ball so he could devote more time to the D.. seem to remember him always doing this.

 

[brady2brown]

In BB We Trust. But does that leave less of him and more DP for the D?

Yes, I'm much more concerned about the deffense than the offense.

 

[Rob0729]

We may see a little bit of a dropoff here. According to pro-football-reference.com, the offense was ranked 4th in the NFL with Weis at the helm. In 2005, with BB sharing duties with McDaniels, the offense was ranked 10th. Still pretty good, but a noticeable dropoff from the year before. How much that had to do with injuries, I'm not sure. All I know is that McDaniels was pretty good at what he did, as evidenced by the way he helped groom Cassel this year. Let's hope O'Brien is a chip off the ol' block.

A big part of the reason there was a drop off in 2005 was the rapid decline of Corey Dillon. Dillon went from the league rushing leader in game played in 2004 to a marginal starter who was constantly injured the following year. So there may not be as big of a drop off as there was in 2005 if Brady is at least close to 100% to start the season.

 

[Rob0729]

Belichick was the brains behind the explosive offense. Cassels' development was more due to Belichick than any other coach, and proof of that is the similar development of Brady when McDaniels wasn't there. The other coaches just run Belichick's development training.

The drop off in production was more due to the fact that Corey Dillon aged 100 years after the 2004 season and because we lost some key offensive personnel.

I don't think you can take away what McDaniels did for this offense and Cassel. I know you hate the guy and think he was a horrible coordinator, but give the guy a little credit.

I don't think there will be that big a drop off especially since O'Brien seems to be a McDaniels clone. You are probably going to hate him though because based on the piece in the Globe last week, like McDaniels, he likes to go out and continue to attack another teams' weakness and beat them that way rather than have a deception plays.

 

[Rob0729]

Yes, I'm much more concerned about the deffense than the offense.

Ditto! I want to see a more agressive defense next year. As long as the Pats have Brady (assuming he is healthy), Moss, and Welker; they will be at least an above average offense no matter the play calling and scheming.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

I can't worry too much about 2005. That was before BB decided that the Urban Meyer-like shotgun spread attack was the way to go. Bill worked out the framework of the idea and left the details to Josh. I'm sure not much is lost.

Taking Bill's attention away from revamping a defense that needs more help is the real concern

 

[carolinatony]

Another Dillon type RB would help the O next year and beyond. I miss him.

 

[maverick4]

I don't think there will be that big a drop off especially since O'Brien seems to be a McDaniels clone. You are probably going to hate him though because based on the piece in the Globe last week, like McDaniels, he likes to go out and continue to attack another teams' weakness and beat them that way rather than have a deception plays.

I like scoring points, but I hope O'Brien is a lot more adept at in-game adjustments and playing a more chameleon-like offense than McKid was. Our "everyone knows what we're doing and we dare you to stop it" offense was too Colts-like and a major reason why we kept choking in the playoffs ever since Charlie left.

 

[BionicPatriot]

We may see a little bit of a dropoff here. According to pro-football-reference.com, the offense was ranked 4th in the NFL with Weis at the helm. In 2005, with BB sharing duties with McDaniels, the offense was ranked 10th. Still pretty good, but a noticeable dropoff from the year before. How much that had to do with injuries, I'm not sure. All I know is that McDaniels was pretty good at what he did, as evidenced by the way he helped groom Cassel this year. Let's hope O'Brien is a chip off the ol' block.

In 04, Dillon was an animal.

In 05, he was a wounded puppy.

I'd say a 1600 yard back probably would make a difference in 6 slots.

 

[BradyFTW!]

We may see a little bit of a dropoff here. According to pro-football-reference.com, the offense was ranked 4th in the NFL with Weis at the helm. In 2005, with BB sharing duties with McDaniels, the offense was ranked 10th. Still pretty good, but a noticeable dropoff from the year before. How much that had to do with injuries, I'm not sure. All I know is that McDaniels was pretty good at what he did, as evidenced by the way he helped groom Cassel this year. Let's hope O'Brien is a chip off the ol' block.

The whole Deion Branch fiasco, and Reche Caldwell becoming a starting WR, couldn't have helped. Corey Dillon was also banged up in 2005, yeah? IMO that probably had more to do with the dropoff than the coaching.

 

[Kontradiction]

In 04, Dillon was an animal.

In 05, he was a wounded puppy.

I'd say a 1600 yard back probably would make a difference in 6 slots.

In 2004, we had 2,134 yards rushing as a team. In 2005, we had 1,512 yards rushing. So yes, Dillon's impact was lost. He was the reason why I stated that I didn't know how much production was lost because of injury as he was, as you said it, a wounded puppy. However, the reason why I said "I'm not sure" is because Dillon had the same number of rushing TDs (12) as he did in '04. The yards were lost but the touchdowns were still there. As a matter of fact, we had 16 rushing TDs in 2005 and 15 in 2004.