X's & O's The Patriots and the Erhardt-Perkins Offense

[upstater1]

Jets videotaped Patriots last season in Foxborough

The Jets were caught videotaping at Gillette Stadium last season and the Pats had that employee removed from the area, according to published reports. Jets coach Eric Mangini said his team received permission to film behind both end zones during the game.

www.espn.com

BTW, despite what the Jets claim, this whole report from ESPN was full of BS.

#1. The memo forbade any filming anywhere on the field or anywhere if you were not in a 3-walled enclosure. So ESPN -- usual -- posted a bunch of nonsense to spare the NFL.

#2. There's video footage of the Jets cameraman in question taping FROM the sidelines.

#3. The Patriots said no one affiliated with the Patriots had given the Jets permission. The Jets could not name who gave them permission. Regardless, could anyone get permission to break the rules (as set out in the memo?) The memo is clear: you can only film from a 3-walled enclosure. How does a team give you permission for you to break the rules?

 

[NovaScotiaPatsFan]

Jets videotaped Patriots last season in Foxborough

The Jets were caught videotaping at Gillette Stadium last season and the Pats had that employee removed from the area, according to published reports. Jets coach Eric Mangini said his team received permission to film behind both end zones during the game.

www.espn.com

TYVM!

 

[slam]

The curious thing is that some players picked it up, others didn't. So for every Chad Jackson who couldn't pick it up, we had a Malcolm Mitchell. For every Aaron Dobson, we had a David Givens. Deion Branch. Edelman. And we brought in FAs who picked it up, like Welker, Amendola, Hogan, Brandon Lloyd, Cooks, Moss, etc. But Galloway, Ochocinco and Sanu couldn't. N'Keal Harry and Tyquan Thornton NO. Jakobi Meyers, Demario Douglas and Kayshon Boutte YES.

My theory about WRs in this system is that you don't know how well any receiver will grasp this offense until they join the team and live with it a while. If you got prime Marvin Harrison Sr. into this system, for example, I think there's a chance he wouldn't get it. Famously, Harrison would just line up split wide in the Colts' hurry up and when the play was called, the slot receiver would just relay to Harrison what route he was supposed to run. Little mental work at all, and Harrison didn't need to know what any of the other 10 players on his team was doing. But he was talented enough, and Peyton was Peyton, so that it didn't matter. There have been so many veteran WRs who produced elsewhere that came to the Patriots and did very little. Learning this system is a lot of mental work that not everyone can do, but the returns on it if you master it are huge as players and as an offense as a whole.

For other positions, the Patriots are much more comfortable projecting traits into production. If you have an OT with these measurables, they will succeed. Same with DE's and DT's. I expected the Pats to draft those guys in the first round and for them to be at least OK.

With that, though, I would have thought that the Pats would have fully shifted their draft strategy to a quantity over quality one for WR. Always take a 6th or 7th round WR every year, but never use a high pick, in the hopes of finding your Edelmans, Pop Douglas's, David Givens, and Bouttes just by taking as many bites at the apple as they could manage. And when they missed, I would have thought their misses would be of the Jordan Richards variety: reportedly very smart technicians but physically limited. Instead of drafting guys fairly high who have some appealing combine traits but seem limited as route runners. Like I wouldn't have guessed they'd be tempted by the speed of Bethel Johnson or the size of Aaron Dobson to spend high picks on. Undersized but clever Deion Branch was the type of guy I would have guessed the Pats would be aiming for.

 

[upstater1]

My theory about WRs in this system is that you don't know how well any receiver will grasp this offense until they join the team and live with it a while. If you got prime Marvin Harrison Sr. into this system, for example, I think there's a chance he wouldn't get it. Famously, Harrison would just line up split wide in the Colts' hurry up and when the play was called, the slot receiver would just relay to Harrison what route he was supposed to run. Little mental work at all, and Harrison didn't need to know what any of the other 10 players on his team was doing. But he was talented enough, and Peyton was Peyton, so that it didn't matter. There have been so many veteran WRs who produced elsewhere that came to the Patriots and did very little. Learning this system is a lot of mental work that not everyone can do, but the returns on it if you master it are huge as players and as an offense as a whole.

For other positions, the Patriots are much more comfortable projecting traits into production. If you have an OT with these measurables, they will succeed. Same with DE's and DT's. I expected the Pats to draft those guys in the first round and for them to be at least OK.

With that, though, I would have thought that the Pats would have fully shifted their draft strategy to a quantity over quality one for WR. Always take a 6th or 7th round WR every year, but never use a high pick, in the hopes of finding your Edelmans, Pop Douglas's, David Givens, and Bouttes just by taking as many bites at the apple as they could manage. And when they missed, I would have thought their misses would be of the Jordan Richards variety: reportedly very smart technicians but physically limited. Instead of drafting guys fairly high who have some appealing combine traits but seem limited as route runners. Like I wouldn't have guessed they'd be tempted by the speed of Bethel Johnson or the size of Aaron Dobson to spend high picks on. Undersized but clever Deion Branch was the type of guy I would have guessed the Pats would be aiming for.

Great post. The funny thing is both Demario and Boutte were once heralded WRs who were downgraded because of injury/combine stuff.

Even Stefon Diggs, he was a 4th rounder when he came out. His talent was obvious at Maryland, but he was also a running back there.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

My theory about WRs in this system is that you don't know how well any receiver will grasp this offense until they join the team and live with it a while. If you got prime Marvin Harrison Sr. into this system, for example, I think there's a chance he wouldn't get it. Famously, Harrison would just line up split wide in the Colts' hurry up and when the play was called, the slot receiver would just relay to Harrison what route he was supposed to run. Little mental work at all, and Harrison didn't need to know what any of the other 10 players on his team was doing. But he was talented enough, and Peyton was Peyton, so that it didn't matter. There have been so many veteran WRs who produced elsewhere that came to the Patriots and did very little. Learning this system is a lot of mental work that not everyone can do, but the returns on it if you master it are huge as players and as an offense as a whole.

For other positions, the Patriots are much more comfortable projecting traits into production. If you have an OT with these measurables, they will succeed. Same with DE's and DT's. I expected the Pats to draft those guys in the first round and for them to be at least OK.

With that, though, I would have thought that the Pats would have fully shifted their draft strategy to a quantity over quality one for WR. Always take a 6th or 7th round WR every year, but never use a high pick, in the hopes of finding your Edelmans, Pop Douglas's, David Givens, and Bouttes just by taking as many bites at the apple as they could manage. And when they missed, I would have thought their misses would be of the Jordan Richards variety: reportedly very smart technicians but physically limited. Instead of drafting guys fairly high who have some appealing combine traits but seem limited as route runners. Like I wouldn't have guessed they'd be tempted by the speed of Bethel Johnson or the size of Aaron Dobson to spend high picks on. Undersized but clever Deion Branch was the type of guy I would have guessed the Pats would be aiming for.

A story I have posted before was watching a preseason game vs Philly Edelman's rookie year when he was instructing repeatedly Joey Galloway where to line up. JE already"got it" as a rookie and Galloway never did "get it".

 

[scott99]

We've been using this offense from 1976 to 1982, 1993-1996, 2000-2023, 2025.

A total of 36 years since 1976.

Amazing !

 

[scott99]

It’s amazing how some people can get the offense and become good/great WRs/TEs, and others could never figure it out. Even some youngsters got it right away, like
Branch/ Givens/Gronk/Hernandez/Edelman/Mitchell. Took a while for Edelman to really get on the field as a WR, but he learned the offense pretty fast. I have a feeling Chism has learned it, it showed in preseason, he was always in the right spot.

Yet some older players could never figure it out. It’s quite fascinating.

 

[PlainOldEd]

More than anything else the thing that pisses me off about Spygate is how it wasn't even about stealing signals, it was about where our cameraman was. It took me years to learn that because the sports media is so corrupt and Pats-hating. And non-Patriots fans? Forget about it, they have no clue.

This. Ive had pats hater fans tell me deflate-gate was upheld by a court proving they did it. But what was actually decided by yhe court was that Goodell can do wtf he wants regatdless of proof because thats what the cba says.

 

[PlainOldEd]

Turn 50 manana.

Happy birthday

 

[Pape]

Turn 50 manana.

feliz cumpleaños

 

[TomPatriot]

I'll admit, I was getting tired of the "Brady" offense, but at least this offense has an identity "Erhardt-Perkins" and history. Most offenses in the NFL try to copy each other and look like the same college offense.

Same thing on defense unfortunately around the NFL. They are all built the same and run the same formations.

Blasphemy. Best football offense ever devised. I mean, in what other system you get to use the word “tosser” a lot.

 

[NovaScotiaPatsFan]

This. Ive had pats hater fans tell me deflate-gate was upheld by a court proving they did it. But what was actually decided by yhe court was that Goodell can do wtf he wants regatdless of proof because thats what the cba says.

Deflategate is far easier to disprove as well, just take an empty plastic pop bottle and seal it at room temperature tight, put it in your fridge and wait an hour or so. When you look again it will have shrunk.

But of course they won't do that because none of them actually cared about the balls, they cared about trying to prove their inferior team didn't lose fair and square.

 

[upstater1]

This. Ive had pats hater fans tell me deflate-gate was upheld by a court proving they did it. But what was actually decided by yhe court was that Goodell can do wtf he wants regatdless of proof because thats what the cba says.

And amazingly, the judge who overruled the lower court didn't even bother reading the particulars of the case. He gave an interview in which he stated facts debunked during the earlier trial. I think he just read the CBA and ignored everything else, but then felt compelled to comment on what he hadn't read.

 

[Rob0729]

Although the core principles of the Erhardt-Perkins system is in the current offense, it really isn’t the Erhardt-Perkins offense anymore. McDaniels is still using the idea of concepts of routes rather than designated routes for each play, but the original Erhardt-Perkins offense and what was used during the Brady years was based on a the short quick passing game.

McDaniels has adopted the system to fit Maye’s style. That means more down field passing and designing roll outs to give Maye more time. This was never really part of the original system.

 

[TommyD4207]

Although the core principles of the Erhardt-Perkins system is in the current offense, it really isn’t the Erhardt-Perkins offense anymore. McDaniels is still using the idea of concepts of routes rather than designated routes for each play, but the original Erhardt-Perkins offense and what was used during the Brady years was based on a the short quick passing game.

McDaniels has adopted the system to fit Maye’s style. That means more down field passing and designing roll outs to give Maye more time. This was never really part of the original system.

I dunno, the 18 yard Vataha out and 30 yard Morgan over route look awfully familiar.

 

[signbabybrady]

I dunno, the 18 yard Vataha out and 30 yard Morgan over route look awfully familiar.

 

[Rob0729]

I dunno, the 18 yard Vataha out and 30 yard Morgan over route look awfully familiar.

It isn’t that they never threw deep balls. It was that the offense was built more on the quick passing game. Maye barely ever throws a quick screen or a quick slant that was always a staple of the Erhardt-Perkins offense.

​

 

[signbabybrady]

It isn’t that they never threw deep balls. It was that the offense was built more on the quick passing game. Maye barely ever throws a quick screen or a quick slant that was always a staple of the Erhardt-Perkins offense.

​

There's been plenty of slants to Pop and Diggs. A couple to Mack.

The screens are down a little but Rham got a couple before he got hurt. It will be interesting to see how they expand Hendu now that he's proving himself more. he would seem like a good screen player.

 

[TommyD4207]

It isn’t that they never threw deep balls. It was that the offense was built more on the quick passing game. Maye barely ever throws a quick screen or a quick slant that was always a staple of the Erhardt-Perkins offense.

​

They literally ran Erhardt-Perkins back then. Ron Erhardt was here. The plays are in the playbook.

 

[Rob0729]

There's been plenty of slants to Pop and Diggs. A couple to Mack.

The screens are down a little but Rham got a couple before he got hurt. It will be interesting to see how they expand Hendu now that he's proving himself more. he would seem like a good screen player.

There some slants, but Pop and Diggs are not being used that way. Pop gets a lot of down field throws.

And Stevenson was also used more down field.

It isn’t the same offense.