With O’Brien aboard, Patriots are buying in
FOXBOROUGH — Patriots wide receiver Kendrick Bourne wore an ear-to-ear smile every time he faced the media this training camp. He also practiced with a noticeable bounce in his step and said several times that this is the most energized he has felt in his seven-year career.
It was a marked difference from last year’s camp, when Bourne clashed with coaches, neglected his injury rehab, and found himself buried on the depth chart.
One of the biggest reasons for the change in attitude? The arrival of offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien, who replaced Matt Patricia and Joe Judge.
“I think scheme is a big part of players, how we feel, what we want to see and how it can make us be better players,” Bourne said Wednesday as the Patriots began preparations for the Sept. 10 season opener against the Eagles. “I think we’re doing really well, man. We’re really poised, knowing what we’re doing together, knowing each other, communicating well.”
The Patriots’ primary goal in 2023 is clear — get Mac Jones back on track after a shaky sophomore season, and fix an offense that has been flailing since Tom Brady left after the 2019 season. Accomplish that, and everything else should fall into place — getting back to the playoffs, and maybe even contending for the AFC East title again.
Enter O’Brien, who may be the Patriots’ most important addition of the post-Brady era. He was brought in to clean up the mess left last year by Patricia and Judge, first-time offensive coaches who clashed with Jones and did not
seem to have much credibility with the players.
“Matty was unbelievable at X’s and O’s, but I think Matt may have had a hard time with relaying the message and getting guys to buy into it,” former Patriot Rob Ninkovich said.
Not only does O’Brien have 17 years of experience running an offense, he is uniquely qualified for his role in Foxborough. He knows the Patriots’ system and culture after previously coaching here for five years, and he knows Jones’s college offense after having spent the last two years at Alabama.
“It’s super unique. It’s the Patriots [offense], but it’s also for me, it’s Alabama, too,” Jones said recently on WEEI. “So he has a lot of knowledge of not only this system but Alabama’s system, so that’s cool for me, and a lot of guys on the team really respect that about him.”
If nothing else, O’Brien brings credibility to his position, which was lacking with last year’s setup. He has a variety of experiences — eight years running offenses in college (Georgia Tech, Duke, Penn State, and Alabama), nine years in the NFL (New England and Houston). Coaching older superstars (Brady), younger ones (Deshaun Watson, Bryce Young), and NFL journeymen.
The players repeatedly used the word “experience” this training camp when referencing what makes O’Brien a good coach.
“He’s obviously had a lot of success at different places, doing it different ways,” veteran center David Andrews said. “He’s clear of what he wants, how he wants it done, so when the expectations are known and you know how to achieve them, that makes things easier.”
Perhaps most impressively, when O’Brien got to Houston in 2014, he turned a 2-14 team that finished 31st in points into 9-7 and 14th in points with Ryan Fitzpatrick, Case Keenum, and Ryan Mallett as his quarterbacks. O’Brien later won nine games and reached the playoffs multiple times with the likes of Brian Hoyer, Brock Osweiler, and Tom Savage.
“It’s massive to have a guy that’s not only done it, but done it at a pretty high level,” said ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky, who played for six teams in 11 NFL seasons. “So when a coach is talking through things and what they’re trying to accomplish, there’s a starting point of respect, or, ‘I believe the things that are coming out of his mouth.’ ”
Jones and his teammates have expressed gratitude toward O’Brien for his communication skills and for the flexibility in his scheme to empower Jones with decisions at the line of scrimmage.
“O’Brien lays out the operation, what we’re trying to get out of a play, all that stuff, the ‘why’ behind a play,” Jones said. “This system allows the quarterback — puts a lot on their plate, but allows us, when you know what to do, to play really fast. So I think it’s a great system.”
Orlovsky expects the Patriots’ offense to be heavy on run-pass option plays (RPO) and play-action passes, or about the opposite of last year’s offense. The Patriots’ 35 combined RPO plays (26 runs, 9 passes) tied for 28th in the NFL, and their 108 play-action passes ranked 27th, per Pro Football Reference.
“The challenge for Bill [O’Brien] is, I would imagine teams are just going to line up and play a ton of man-to-man against New England because they don’t really have a ton of separators and winners on the outside,” Orlovsky said. “So how much can Bill create RPOs that have man-beating concepts on them — rub routes and pick routes and winning off leverage?”
Former Texans defensive end J.J. Watt, who played for O’Brien for sixplus seasons in Houston, said “it’s huge” for Jones to have O’Brien as his offensive coordinator.
“To have a guy like Bill O’Brien, who has had success at that level, and who’s worked with Tom and who knows the system and knows what he wants to accomplish is really good for Mac,” said Watt, now an analyst with CBS. “So I would imagine that he’s going to have a more successful season than he did last year, and that obviously speaks well for the Patriots as a group.”
NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth called the Patriots’ offense “intriguing” but is less certain that the Jones-O’Brien pairing is going to be a slam dunk. In two seasons with Jones, the Patriots are one of five teams (Giants, Browns, Panthers, Bears) to not win a game when the other team scores at least 25 points.
“Offensively they have to re-prove it, that it wasn’t just Tom Brady,” Collinsworth said. “At some point you’re going to have to put up 30 to beat the top teams in the league, and the question is, can the combination of Bill O’Brien and Mac Jones get it done?”
Orlovsky is skeptical of the Patriots’ receivers and offensive line.
“The offense will be better, I just still have reservations about how well they can protect,” he said. “And if teams just want to play man coverage, how often [their receivers] can win?”
But in the Patriots’ locker room, O’Brien’s arrival seemed to reaffirm everyone’s faith in the direction of the offense.
“I think just how we’re jelling as a group,” Bourne said, cracking a big smile on Wednesday. “I think Mac is in a great place as a leader, and I think that trickles to the whole team. Believing in him, and believing in each other, and we’re going into the game with a lot of confidence.”