McDaniels: Vrabel, Pees a Titanic test
Josh McDaniels is no stranger to doing battle with Titans coach Mike Vrabel and defensive coordinator Dean Pees. Having matched wits with the Tennessee two, the Patriots offensive coordinator knows he’s in for a battle Sunday in Nashville.
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“The No. 1 thing I can say about both of those guys and the way that this defense plays is that they’re wellcoached, they’re very sound, they’re very physical and aggressive, which is something I think we always try to be here,” McDaniels said via conference call yesterday. “They don’t give up many big plays. They’re very, very good in the red zone — the best team in the league. They’ve given up the fewest points allowed in the league so far this season. All of that sounds familiar to me.”
The 4-4 Titans have surrendered 141 points. They’re also stingy in the red zone, allowing touchdowns just 31 percent of the time.
“They’ve got good players at all three levels of the defense, they know exactly what they’re doing, they put a lot of stress on the offense on all three downs — they don’t just wait for third down to do that — and they put their players in great position to be successful and do some things to try to take advantage of whatever scheme they’re playing against on the offensive side of the ball,” McDaniels said. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for Mike and Dean, their staff. They’ve certainly done a good job.”
Credit to O’Shea
How has Josh Gordon been able to pick up the Pats’ difficult system so quickly?
McDaniels credited the receiver, but also gave a huge assist to wide receivers coach Chad O’Shea.
“When you come in to a new place, kind of midstream, there’s no shortcuts to trying to learn the nuances and intricacies of somebody’s system. I think we just put our head down. He’s done a tremendous job of doing that. He tries to learn something new every day,” McDaniels said of Gordon. “Chad O’Shea deserves a tremendous amount of credit. He’s spent a lot of time with him. He’s done a tremendous job of getting him caught up as best we can. We’re still in the growing phase. I don’t think we’ve been together long enough to say that he has a foundation that’s just completely finished. We’re going to continue to work on that each week.
“He comes in each day, he tries to learn more and understand his role in the game plan and the things that we ask of him at each position that he plays. Like I said, Chad, he really deserves the credit for that because they worked really hard to do that. Ultimately, (Gordon’s) performance out there on the field — good, bad or indifferent — he’s learning from every rep that we take in practice and in the games. With all of those reps and all of that experience gained comes some confidence, and with confidence, I think you can improve your performance.”
Linebacker on way
The Pats are expected to sign veteran linebacker Albert McClellan, according to a source.
McClellan, one of the Ravens’ best special teams players. was cut last week to make room for former Packer Ty Montgomery.