Patriots
have up there, right?” said former Patriots tight end Dwayne Allen, now with the Dolphins. “A lot of people have tried and failed.”
That group includes former head coaches Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini and Josh McDaniels in the NFL, and Charlie Weis at Notre Dame and Kansas. The jury is still out on two second-year head coaches with New England backgrounds: former Belichick assistant Matt Patricia (610 with the Lions last year) and ex-Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel (9-7 with the Titans).
Add to that sextet the somewhat successful Bill O’Brien (43- 41 entering his sixth season with the Texans, but only 1-3 in the playoffs), and their combined winning percentage is .430, compared with Belichick’s .741 in New England.
Some suspect Belichick’s proteges have tried too hard to Be Like Bill.
“There have been mistakes,” said former Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi, who spent nine seasons playing for Belichick and is now an ESPN analyst. “When you try to clone Bill Belichick’s style and it’s not who you are, it’s going to come off as disingenuous. You’re not going to feel real to players, and players can feel that. That mistake has been done in the past by his coaching tree.” who have not touched the ball in a live game.
RPI averaged around 27 points a game last season, while allowing just over an average of 18 points to opposing offenses. Yardage wise, the Engineers posted a total of 4300 yards (on the dot!) of offense last season, and the defense allowed 4325, but limited opposing teams to 29 total touchdowns.
Nick Cella was the main yardage accurer, totaling 894 yards on 202 carries. Along with Cella, the Engineer’s top receivers were Keaton Ackermann, Conor Davies, and Rob Law.
Each one of those guys has graduated.
But, the Engineers return possibly the most important position, their quarterback. George Marinopoulos returns for his junior season with a season and a half under his belt. Now as an upperclassman, Marinopoulos has grown into his leadership role and his ready to find out who will replace his top receivers from last season.
“Were coming out here and playing football and having fun everyday,” said Marinopoulos. “Every single team in the country is 0- 0. No one has played a game yet, so last year doesn’t mean anything for us. We flip the script. The guys from last year are back this year, and we are trying to get one percent better everyday.”
Marinopoulos totaled 2513 passing yards last season, completing 54.06 percent of his passes. He added 17 touchdowns and just nine interceptions to his stat line and finished with a 123.86 QBR while averaging 209 yards of passing a game.
“I feel absoluetly so comfortable in the offense because of George,” said Junior receiver Nick Smith. “He’s one year stronger, one year smarter, one year better. He knows how to read coverage, he knows how to find the guys that are open. He knows how to take a hit and still deliver the ball. I’m so excited for him, and me, and our chemistry, because we have been working all offseason for this.”
Smith may be one of the more exciting recievers for the Engineer this season. Smith only had 13 catches last season. Even though his receptions were limited, Smith was still able to catch four touchdowns and total 214 yards.
Smith has the ability to make highlight catches, break tackles, and his able to extend a drive and help Marinopoulos pick up some yards after a catch with his legs.
Smith has the top recieving yards of all returning recievers this season.
“Obviously I want to try and be as productive as I can,” said Smith on his goals coming into this season. “I want to make the best of my oppurtunities and be a playmaker out there.”