FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Ask the Patriots about establishing their offensive identity, and they’ll tell you one of two things.
One, they run a game-plan offense that morphs week to week to exploit their opponents’ weaknesses. Their identity is amorphous. And to a degree, that’s true.
Except, a pure game-plan operation would have the power to attack any and every weakness, which would theoretically require mastering all plays and concepts in offensive football and therefore far more time and practice than NFL rules allow. The Patriots, of course, do not excel equally at all plays and haven’t, especially when they’ve fielded a rookie quarterback.
“I think the situation we’ve been in can kind of speak to that,” Patriots tight end Hunter Henry said last week of identity struggles. “We had a new quarterback for three weeks, so it’s hard to continue to carry forward when you have a different guy under center. So that adds an element of a little bit of change.”
Or second, the Patriots will tell you they’re getting close. Lately, there’s been far more of that messaging, including from Mac Jones on Wednesday.
“We always have a little bit of things we want to do extra or differently for a certain week, but for the most part, we know what we want to do,” Jones said.
As they should.
Coach Bill Belichick’s calendar dictates the Patriots must self-identify by late October, know who they are and how they want to play. The Pats will declare their identity once they repeatedly flex their strengths through a core set of concepts or skill-position players. It’s these players and plays that will either carry or fail them in critical late-season moments, such as inside the red zone, on third down or during two matchups with the powerhouse Bills.
Because sure, in the abstract, the Patriots can talk about morphing into a spread passing attack or a power-running team or an I-formation offense down the stretch. But on third-and-7, with the crowd roaring and a playoff berth or game at stake, a play must be called and a choice must be made, even if slightly predictable. And that’s OK.
Because even at the height of their powers, the Patriots’ best offenses were rooted in clear and obvious strengths. From Tom Brady’s devastating deep passing attack of 2007 to the Gronk/Hernandez two-tight end package in 2011 or the death-by-a-thousand-cuts short passing game over Brady’s later years.
By establishing these plays, the Patriots not only sharpened their execution and increased their down-to-down odds of success, but they set the terms of engagement to their opponents. Establishing an identity forces defenses to adjust to that strength, either by loading the box or keeping an extra safety back. And that’s where constraint plays enter the picture.
Constraint plays, such as screens, draws or play-action throws, cannot comprise an entire offense because they are counters. They exploit the weak areas in defenses designed to stop core concepts aka a team’s identity, which must first be established or at least expected for the constraint plays to work.
The power of constraint plays was on full display over the Patriots’ lone touchdown drive against the Jets last Sunday. The Jets had managed to crush their apparent identity of strong under-center running and deep shotgun passing in the first half, a major problem for a rusty Jones. But the Patriots adjusted, calling most of their dozen run-pass options (RPOs) in the second half starting with that drive that gained 5, 5, 7 and 9 yards off of RPOs.
RPOs are the ultimate constraint: a mid-play read by the quarterback to run or pass based on the defense’s alignment. They are not infallible, but they are effective and important to Jones.
“You look at the NFL and every offense is running, for the most part, some version of them. Some people are RPO heavy, some people just have a dose of them, (but they) can’t be your whole offense,” he said. “But (it) definitely just adds a different layer to your offense. So we want to be able to do whatever we want at any time in the game: run the ball, throw it, play-action, RPO, etc.
“(We) definitely need to improve in other areas too to kind of allow those plays to happen. But those are good plays overall.”
First, the identity, then come the constraints.
Days before Sunday’s game, Henry may have hinted at the inclusion of more RPOs while sharing that the Patriots are trying to close the gap between their real offense and its ideal version.
“Yeah, I think we have an identity of what we want to be, and we’ve got to continue to build that,” he said, “but we’re still finding things we want to sprinkle in and find ways to use guys in different ways.”
Patriots wide receiver Kendrick Bourne, a casualty of the team’s identity crisis who’s seen his snaps and targets fall, agrees.
“I think we are close to our identity. We run the ball well, we pass the ball well. But we need to finish,” Bourne added. “We need to finish better, and that’s where we’re struggling. Finishing teams away.”
Finishing.
Like being successful on a power run on third-and-goal from the 1 when the defense knows it’s coming. Or calling double slants, slant-flat, curl-flat or any number of quick-game route combinations on first-and-10 the defense has seen them on tape dozens of times before.
“You have to adjust every week. But we also need to know our strengths,” Bourne said. “What we’re not so good at and what that team’s not so good at and be able to get after that. Because we’ve got the players to do it.”
Sunday against the Colts should offer a perfect test.
Few coaches are as committed to their systems as Colts defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, who continues to worship at the Cover 3 altar long after all the parishioners have left and attendance has dwindled. Even Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll, who popularized the scheme last decade, has left the clergy.
The Patriots have exploited Bradley’s defenses forever. They’ve cut it into 1,000 pieces with short throws during certain matchups and bowled it over with their run game in others, including Bradley’s last visit to Foxborough for a divisional-round playoff loss in January 2019.
Ideally, the Pats would do both on Sunday; one part game plan-specific and one part true to the offense they want to be no matter who the opponent is.
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