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With a few slight exceptions, the Patriots spent the last 19 years building an offense around one player. Now it’s time to get creative. With Tom Brady, who started 283 of 304 games for the franchise over the last 19 seasons, out the door and with the Buccaneers, Bill Belichick and his staff are left …
With a few slight exceptions, the Patriots spent the last 19 years building an offense around one player.
Now it’s time to get creative.
With Tom Brady, who started 283 of 304 games for the franchise over the last 19 seasons, out the door and with the Buccaneers, Bill Belichick and his staff are left picking up the pieces. But they do have some newfound freedom to change up the system.
“Over the last two decades, everything we did — every single decision we made in terms of major planning — was made with the idea of how to make things best for Tom Brady,” Belichick said Monday on a conference call with reporters.
That mindset only had to be tweaked twice in Brady’s tenure since he took over for Drew Bledsoe in 2001.
Matt Cassel started 15 games in 2008 after Brady tore his ACL and MCL in the season opener. Cassel completed 63.4 percent of his passes that season for 3,693 yards, 21 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, while rushing for 270 yards — more than Brady had in any single season — as the Patriots went 11-5.
“Cassel (in 2008) would be a good example,” Belichick said of changing it up before. “We geared everything toward what would be best for him, just like we always geared everything toward what was best for Tom to help our offense there. So I don’t really see that changing.”
The other exception came in 2016, when the Patriots had some more advanced warning. Brady was suspended the first four games of the season for Deflategate, opening the door for Jimmy Garoppolo and then Jacoby Brissett to start two games apiece. With the more mobile Brissett under center, the Patriots opened up the playbook and made some adjustments to take advantage of tools that were not in Brady’s skillset.
Now, Belichick and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels will have to tailor the offensive scheme around whoever takes over the reins at quarterback — 2019 fourth-round pick Jarrett Stidham, veteran Brian Hoyer or a possible pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
“Whoever the quarterback is, we’ll try to make things work smoothly and efficiently for that player and take advantage of his strengths and his skills,” Belichick said. “Each quarterback has a different skillset, and whatever things that particular player does well, we’ll try to work towards and feature, or at least give him an opportunity to do those. … So, I don’t see it being any different, the process, than what it’s ever been.”
