A new era is underway in Foxboro as the New England Patriots are being built in the vision of first-year coach Jerod Mayo instead of future first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer Bill Belichick. With this new era has come a change in the offense.
Instead of sticking with the proverbial status quo or hiring someone familiar like former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, Mayo went outside the franchise to find his new play-caller in Alex Van Pelt.
And while the now-former Cleveland Browns coordinator is expected to install the west-coast offense in New England, his introductory press conference revealed that the process wouldn't just be a simple copy and paste.
“We’re not exactly sure what pieces to that puzzle we’ll have, but I feel confident with the coaching staff that we’ll be able to put those people in the right place,” Van Pelt said about building his offense. “It’s not so much about scheme, it’s about the players and putting those people in position. There’s a lot of different schemes out there, the best ones put the best players in positions to be successful.”
In other words, Van Pelt will not look to fit "square pegs into round holes" when implementing an offense that, if he just copied and pasted from Cleveland, may not exactly fit with the Patriots' personnel.
Yet even then, Van Pelt didn't deny the fact that there will be similarities between what he helped run in Cleveland versus what he plans to do in New England.
“I would say there’s a lot of similarities,” Van Pelt said. “Again, it’s those pieces of the puzzle: what’s available, and how can we make those guys successful. But there will be similarities, and I’ve taken pieces of a lot of different offenses over my time and kind of melted those together into what’s best for us at that time."
This may be a refreshing tidbit for fans who just endured a disastrous season with a horrific offense. Despite last offseason's hiring of Bill O'Brien, who was supposed to right the ship offensively in New England, after Belichick's original plan for replacing McDaniels didn't work out, the Patriots seemingly got worse.
The Patriots finished the season ranked second-to-last in points per game, averaging just 13.9, while finishing at No. 30 in yards per game and 31st in third-down conversions.
Now, Van Pelt will look to build his version of the Patriots offense from scratch, and he will do it based on his personnel rather than a predetermined scheme.
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