Did the Patriots patch holes this offseason - or is New England just ‘fine’?
Yahoo Sports NFL analyst Nate Tice and Yahoo Sports fantasy analyst Matt Harmon discuss this summer's roster tweaks and why last season's AFC champions could have an even better offense this year - but maybe not as good of a record. Check out the full conversation on "Football 301" - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , YouTube or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
I've got the New England Patriots here, which is actually a pretty significant- I love the Pats step back for them because they were third in average efficiency last year, if you just look at my amoeba metric.
And, I know you're gonna have them higher than me.
I pretty much was convinced of that.
I, I, I think there's-- They're one of those teams that I, I think we can Look, so we're not gonna do the schedule thing, but I think we can acknowledge that they probably were, you know, maybe not the third-best offense in the NFL last year.
It didn't, it didn't feel- Yeah that way, like personnel-wise.
I certainly don't think they had the third-best offense.
But, they were-- they're another one where you're gonna trust the quarterback.
I think we generally trust the play caller, even if I wouldn't put, like, Josh McDaniels in my- Yeah.
I think if we actually did top 10 play callers- He's a B I don't know if Yeah.
Yeah, he's a B.
He's not a- He's a B he's not a negative.
That's, that's how I'm describing.
He's got a massive- High floor, low ceiling play caller.
That's Josh McDaniels.
That's, that's how I view him.
Does lead me to just some of, like, my questions with the, with the receiver room especially is I, I really- Mm-hmm would love to see these guys used in, in more diverse roles.
Like, I wanna see A.J.
Brown off ball more.
I talked about this where, his last year with Mike Vrabel is his highest season, w- in terms of percentage of snaps off the line of scrimmage that I've ev- that I've charted for A.J.
Brown's career.
I also kinda forgot this, but, Todd Downing i- was the recei- is the receiver coach in New England.
He was the offensive coordinator that year as well.
So I, I do hope that we see some of that.
I think that will help, help and maybe even almost, not fully erase, but really help ease the concerns about any potential decline that I've talked about with A.J.
Brown.
I really am excited about Dobbs' fit in this offense as a guy that can play multiple positions, including being the on ball guy.
And KeShawn Moody sounds like they're gonna keep him on the roster.
And he can be a Z, and we already saw him be, like, a sacrificial X last year.
So I think the receiver room can come together, but I still generally do have some concerns about Brown's ceiling this year.
But And, and the, to me, it's, like, a lot of fine across the board.
There's just a lot of stuff that's a lot more sound, along with the A.J.
Brown stuff and the Romeo Dobbs stuff, which I think is gonna obviously increase the ceiling of this offense.
And then, you know, obviously, I think the quarterback's a star.
And I, I- Yeah just think this offense was good last year.
Maybe got some lucky with the schedule stuff.
I think Bill Barnwell said just the defenses they played, they were, like, 20th in EPA, give or take.
So it's, like, a below average schedule they faced last year, slightly easy schedule.
I think that they shored up their weaknesses, went from crap to not crap, or below average to above average, or in the receiving room sense, below average to good.
That, that's why I think they're, this offense, even though it statistically was top five last year, I think it's more of a real top five this year, if that makes sense.
It's like their record might drop this year, but I think they're a better team than the team that wrote, went to the Super Bowl last year.
That's how I feel about the Patriots right now.
