Content Post Zak Kuhr is doing what Belichick wanted Matt Patricia to do

[Ross12]

Great post CTPF. I have also been pretty impressed with Kuhr's growth as the weeks have moved along. I was not super thrilled with the job he did in week 2 but gave him a lot of benefit of the doubt considering he was thrust into the role and barely has almost zero position coach experience, let alone defensive play-calling. However, his growth after that has been tremendous. I'm curious what kind of work Terrell Williams has been doing with him behind the scenes, and how much (if any) help Vrabel is giving him on game day. I haven't really seen Vrabel talk to him directly on the sidelines, but maybe there's some chatter on the headsets.

I'm very curious how this unfolds in the future. If Williams makes a full recovery, does Kuhr just go back to being LB coach? He seems ripe for being plucked away if that happens, and it's hard to count on Williams staying healthy into the future. But you can't exactly force Williams to step down, either, for something that's completely out of his control, just so the guy who covered him can take his job.

If I had to guess, the Pats will give Kuhr a fancy title in 2026 that pays him at the level of a full DC so that he doesn't jump ship right away and they can wait out Williams' health situation. If Williams makes a full recovery and becomes reliable, then they have him and Kuhr both working together for a couple years and then Kuhr leaves later, or Williams leaves and Kuhr officially takes his job. If Williams' health forces him to officially step down then Kuhr steps right in. The plus side to "option B" is that you can have Williams "step down" but still remain with the organization in an advisory capacity which requires a lot less of his time.

 

[lancerman]

We had Bailey Jones at QB then Jacoby Brissett... what's funny in all of the Patricia was probably the most successful at OC between BOB and AVP and he's a defensive coordinator..

Again, look at what Patricia had vs the others.

-BOB had a declining year 3 Mac Jones that Patricia broke and had a top 2 running back on the team and best receiver league while the other 3 top pass catchers missed time and the top RB missed time. Oh and a worse offensive line.

-AVP had to start the season with Brissett as his QB, along with still missing that top WR and the worse offensive line.

Patricia also objectively had a much bigger fumbling problem with his skill players than BOB.

Patricia is a better comp to 2021 McDaniels who had most of the same pieces.

Cherry picking box stats does not absolve just how poorly Patricia did with what he had. He was a disaster. Everyone knew it going in. He proved it. He made the offense worse and was a big reason for the hole we've been digging ourselves out of. The offense had issues from 2019-2021. But Patricia was where the nosedive happened and 31 other fanbases predicted that while we made excuses.

 

[lancerman]

I never cared to much for the zone based bend but don't break defense under MP.. I give him his credit though. But the defense didn't become unleashed until Flores took over. That's how we won our last SB.

Agreed. It was very telling that we had a stacked defense but they actually got better each year after Patricia. Flores was far more aggressive and it paid off. Then Belichick took the reigns the next year and realized he could sell out even more because of how talented they were and they had an amazing defensive season, if the offense didn't fall off, they probably would have won a Super Bowl and we'd regard them as one of the all time great defenses of that era and possibly the best the Patriots ever had.

Patricia did what was needed but was overall a lot more passive when he really didn't need to be.

 

[lancerman]

If Patricia was statistically the most successful OC out of BOB and AVP that says a lot more about the coaching and talent on the roster the last couple of seasons (none of it positive) than it does about MP.

AVP statistically had a better run game. But again. Both BOB and AVP lost the best pass catcher that Patricia had. Patricia had Meyers and then a passing corp that was healthy for the entire season.... and the offense still was driven into a ditch.

 

[Wozzy]

Kuhr has the defense improving and that's all we can ask for. They've allowed the 9th fewest points (PPD) and have the 7th lowest scoring percentage in the NFL. They're 10th in turnover percentage. Top ten in points allowed and creating turnovers... not bad and hopefully improving.

Where the defense really needed improving was pass defense, and over the past three games they improved there mightily. The first two games really skewed the passing stats in a poor direction. They've seemed to regress some in the pass rush the past couple games, but that might be more of a matchup thing because they've brought the heat when necessary.

Either way the run defense is tied for 3rd best in YPC, and 4th best in YPG... one of the best in the NFL. That's where defense starts.

They need to continue to limit penalties which have hurt them. They also have to keep improving on third downs and in the red zone. If the team can stay healthy and continue to improve, they could be one of the best defenses in the NFL.

As for Matt Patricia, who I was never really high on as a defensive coordinator, he was asked to take over the offense then Jonathan Kraft asked them to switch to a West Coast offense right before camp began... they wasted a lot of time on that BS. Then switched back right before the season. As bad as Matt was, the offense was better than the year after when it had a professional coordinator running the offense in Obie.

Bottom line... nothing was going to work with a power struggle between owner and head coach, multiple different coaches and personnel guys on opposing sides. It takes a team... and the past few years were a dysfunctional sht show.

 

[p8ryts]

Yeah. My main point is not that Patricia wasn't capable of making the switch, merely that, because of how it was done, he didn't have the experience to make it work.

It was working, except Mac couldn't hit a checkdown or throw to the right color jersey.

 

[p8ryts]

AVP statistically had a better run game. But again. Both BOB and AVP lost the best pass catcher that Patricia had. Patricia had Meyers and then a passing corp that was healthy for the entire season.... and the offense still was driven into a ditch.

Driven by Mac Jones

 

[Real fan 02]

Agreed. It was very telling that we had a stacked defense but they actually got better each year after Patricia. Flores was far more aggressive and it paid off. Then Belichick took the reigns the next year and realized he could sell out even more because of how talented they were and they had an amazing defensive season, if the offense didn't fall off, they probably would have won a Super Bowl and we'd regard them as one of the all time great defenses of that era and possibly the best the Patriots ever had.

Patricia did what was needed but was overall a lot more passive when he really didn't need to be.

Agreed. We started of 8-0.. we started that season with Jules, Josh Gordon and then signed AB.. I will continue to say this.. had be been able to keep AB we definitely get back to the SB. The lone game he played in showed glimpses into what he and Brady could become.

 

[Real fan 02]

Kuhr has the defense improving and that's all we can ask for. They've allowed the 9th fewest points (PPD) and have the 7th lowest scoring percentage in the NFL. They're 10th in turnover percentage. Top ten in points allowed and creating turnovers... not bad and hopefully improving.

Where the defense really needed improving was pass defense, and over the past three games they improved there mightily. The first two games really skewed the passing stats in a poor direction. They've seemed to regress some in the pass rush the past couple games, but that might be more of a matchup thing because they've brought the heat when necessary.

Either way the run defense is tied for 3rd best in YPC, and 4th best in YPG... one of the best in the NFL. That's where defense starts.

They need to continue to limit penalties which have hurt them. They also have to keep improving on third downs and in the red zone. If the team can stay healthy and continue to improve, they could be one of the best defenses in the NFL.

As for Matt Patricia, who I was never really high on as a defensive coordinator, he was asked to take over the offense then Jonathan Kraft asked them to switch to a West Coast offense right before camp began... they wasted a lot of time on that BS. Then switched back right before the season. As bad as Matt was, the offense was better than the year after when it had a professional coordinator running the offense in Obie.

Bottom line... nothing was going to work with a power struggle between owner and head coach, multiple different coaches and personnel guys on opposing sides. It takes a team... and the past few years were a dysfunctional sht show.

Agreed wozzy good post. There was alot of dysfunctional operations over the last several years we all can agree. When Josh left BB didn't want to have to keep cycling through OCs.. caley was approached about becoming OC but he declined according to Andrew Callahan and Karen gurgregian who reported to the Boston Herald. Caley wouldn't be named officially the OC so he declined. As we know BB asked MP.. but anyway kurh is a guys who's been around and been with Vrabel and knows football. I'm praying for coach Williams but it's likely while he focuses on his health that kurh is the guys and the defense continues to get better.

Last week with Tavai back it helped the LB depth especially against the run.

 

[Wozzy]

Last week with Tavai back it helped the LB depth especially against the run.

Tavai looked really good in spot duty. The LB’ers in general have made massive strides since the first two weeks where they looked lost. They’ll continue to improve in pass defense and tackling hopefully. Spillane is stepping up in the middle and Ellis is flying around out in coverage and open space. Familiarity and knowledge of the scheme has only helped the group.

 

[Real fan 02]

Tavai looked really good in spot duty. The LB’ers in general have made massive strides since the first two weeks where they looked lost. They’ll continue to improve in pass defense and tackling hopefully. Spillane is stepping up in the middle and Ellis is flying around out in coverage and open space. Familiarity and knowledge of the scheme has only helped the group.

Agreed. I'm glad you pointed this out. As Vrabel a LB himself seems to really be on his LBs about being sound and fundamentals. The tackling has gotten better. Ellis-spillane-Gibbens-Tavai could really help the second level alot as the season goes on.

 

[JoeSixPat]

Belichick hoped that Matt P. could switch, after spending a career coaching the defensive side of the ball, to doing offensive playcalling. As near as I can tell, cheapness aside, Belichick apparently thought that "he can tell what an opposing DC would do, so he can call plays to defeat those plans." The key problem was that Patricia had much less experience on the offensive side of the ball (when he joined the Patriots in 2004, he worked under Scar coaching the OL, and that's it).

Kuhr, who's 37, didn't play in college, but he did work as an intern at Ohio State in 2011 and 2012 (where he made an impression on then LB/DL coach Mike Vrabel). He then spent several years coaching running backs and working as an OC at the college level. Vrabel then hired him in 2020 to work on the defensive side of the ball, where he's been since. This is likely one of the key differences between Patricia's switch and Kuhr's: Kuhr spent several years learning modern defenses before trying to coach/call plays, while Patricia didn't have that with offenses. If Patricia had spent a few years focused on learning offenses rather than being HC of the Lions, he likely would've done better here in 2022.

Players are impressed with Kuhr: Marte Mapu called him "a homie," and says he tries to "keep it casual . . . without compromising the non-negotiables." In particular, he works with the players to "tweak" the defense to plan ahead for potential problems.

The main thing is that he has gotten results, and he's improved significantly since he began calling plays. Gonzo's return has obviously helped, too.

As one example of improvement, consider the team's blitzing. In Week 2, Miami had successful plays against all of NE's blitzes, averaging 13 yards per play. Buffalo, on the other hand, had a success rate of just 25% and earned less than 1 yard per play.

And here are two examples of what he's done in terms of playcalling:

• 1. Carolina's pass game was abysmal, and running was probably their best shot. So Kuhr baited them by running Cover 2 defenses on first down and having Spillane drop back into coverage. The net result is that Carolina wasted a lot of first downs trying to "surprise" NE by passing deep, only to find their receivers blanketed. They had to settle for a lot of checkdowns that did little to help them move the chains.

2. Against BUF, he used double DTs in 3-4 on early downs to limit RB James Cook's ability to cut back, holding him to his worst YPC of the season. This then forced BUF into more of a spread passing game to counter, allowing the Pats to go man-to-man, which plays to the strength of NE's DBs.

What makes this most impressive is that when Vrabel hired him for NE, this was supposed to be his first year as a position coach. There was no plan for him to be calling plays, but Terrell Williams' health altered that. It'll be fascinating to watch what happens with Kuhr moving forward; I'm fairly sure they don't want to lose him anytime soon.

* * * *

This is based on recent articles about Kuhr (behind paywalls, although you can find archive versions):

Meet Zak Kuhr, the former offensive coach now calling the Patriots’ plays on defense

Kuhr, 37, was an offensive coach at James Madison who learned the defensive side of the ball under Mike Vrabel with the Titans.

www.nytimes.com

Inside the unusual, rapid rise of Zak Kuhr, the Patriots’ new defensive play-caller

The only Patriot improving faster than Drake Maye is their new defensive play-caller. Go inside his 4-week rise and game plan to shut down Josh Allen’s Bills last week.

www.bostonherald.com

Excellent background.

Seems to me that learning the OC at the college level paid the dividends - and now he's got the benefit of a firsthand view from both the offense and now de facto DC for the Pats. It's an imperfect D but he's got them getting better - and I still think of October as the start of the "real" season as there were a lot of cobwebs to shake off for everyone in September.

Throwing Patricia in that position at that time reeked as BB looking for someone to serve as scapegoat if things went south - the alternative was getting an experienced and BB wasn't interested in that

 

[Wozzy]

Throwing Patricia in that position at that time reeked as BB looking for someone to serve as scapegoat if things went south - the alternative was getting an experienced and BB wasn't interested in that

For what it’s worth, I think BB hired his buddy instead of reaching out to experienced offensive coaches because by 2022 he knew his time in NE was almost done. Bob was fading and he clearly didn’t get along with Jonathan.

 

[zydecochris]

Its not uncommon for coaches to switch sides and positions. Its actually a healthy and good thing for a coach to learn and grow. Good coaches typically welcome it and and learn how to adapt, but these are usually position coaches, and not a DC to an AC. Matty P was an offensive assistant in 2004 when we won the SB. In 2005, he went coached the o-line. So he had an offensive base. In 2006, he was reassigned to linebackers. He was safeties in 2011 and promoted to DC in 2012. I don't think this an odd story, but I would have expected him to move back to offense for a bit before being promoted to OC.

As you say, it wouldn’t be unusual for Patricia to be moved to the offense to broaden his background, just that he was moved to OC (!). I suspect that BB’s judgement was clouded because, despite his defensive background, his one-on-one meetings with TB ended up being so instrumental in Brady’s growth from a extremely intelligent game manager to the GOAT. Brady himself said that learning defensive principles from BB was enormously useful to his growth.
….The problem was, although Mac was studious and smart, he was not in the same stratosphere as Tom Brady (who might have had more football intelligence than BB a few years into his career). Plus Patricia has a history of not having particularly good people skills. The set of circumstances was a toxic brew that simply ruined Mac’s confidence, at least for the Pats.