Bedard: What you need to know about Greg Schiano as next Patriots DC

Now that it's abundantly clear the Patriots will be doing almost a complete revamp of the defensive coaching staff — the last one left not named Belichick, please turn out the lights — it's time to let you know exactly what to expect if, indeed, Greg Schiano is the next defensive coordinator for the Patriots.

To recap, Brian Flores took the Dolphins coaching job and brought with him cornerbacks coach Josh Boyer (along with offensive coaches Chad O'Shea and Jerry Schuplinski, and former Patriots linebackers coach Pat Graham). Meanwhile, defensive line coach Brendan Daly reportedly has joined the Chiefs.

That leaves just Steve Belichick as the only official defensive assistant left on staff. Of course, you have "consultant" Brett Bielema and coaching assistants DeMarcus Covington, Mike Pellegrino, Cole Popovich, Atif Austin and Brian Belichick still in the building.

As far as the possible defensive staff in '19, I could envision Bielema as the line coach, Schiano as defensive coordinator/secondary with Steve Belichick as the top assistant. Covington should be ready to handle the linebackers. Still, it's a little light in some places -- they could need to find another FOB (Friend of Bill) with some gravitas. Last we heard from former Patriots assistant Pepper Johnson, he was ready to get back in. He'd make a lot of sense.

Regardless of how the assistant duties shake out, there's little doubt Schiano will have to do a lot of the heavy lifting.

There are few writers who have as much experience with Schiano as I have. As a Rutgers alumnus, I watched just about every game he coached in college. When he made the jump from college to the pros with Tampa Bay, he and I talked extensively on and off the record while he was readying for his first season with the Bucs.

So when it comes to Schiano becoming New England's DC, there are parts about him that will be a great asset to Belichick. There are other parts about Schiano that ... well, let's just say this should be interesting.

Let's start here: this has been and will be Belichick's defense. He sets the course for the gameplan, and has a hand in its implementation (it can be light or heavy depending on the DC and how the team is playing). The DC chiefly organizes the defensive practice schedule, and then calls the plays on gameday.

I've heard from all sorts of people on just about every medium telling me Flores was the difference this season when it came to how aggressively the defense played. I don't buy that. First of all, Matt Patricia was more popular with the players. And to a man, even though I tried to heap praise upon the influence of Flores, none of them really took the bait. Belichick was the driving influence of the defense, according to the players, although Flores absolutely was a good playcaller.

But that blitz on the Stephon Gilmore interception in the Super Bowl? I could find a dozen called by Patricia in the same situation. The Patriots are blitz-heavy in the high red zone and on third downs. Have been for a while. Yes, it was more consistent this season after the bye week, but that had to do with two other factors. Everyone knew the offense was limited this season. After being first or second in overall and passing DVOA the previous two seasons, the Patriots were fifth overall and fourth in passing this past season. Basically, the defense had to do more of its part this year because an offense that routinely scored nearly 30 points a game against anyone averaged 23 in Weeks 9-16 this season. And in some games, it was a struggle to get there.

And then, there was the larger factor: health and personnel. In Super Bowl LII, the Patriots had three special teamers (Jordan Richards, Marquis Flowers and Johnson Bademosi) playing key roles in the Super Bowl loss to the Eagles. Three players signed off the street (Eric Lee, James Harrison, Ricky Jean Francois) played at least 15 snaps, with Harrison playing 67. Eric Rowe was playing on a bad groin, Kyle Van Noy was beat up all season. Adam Butler, Deatrich Wise, Gilmore and Guy were all in their first seasons. Dont'a Hightower and Shea McClellin were on IR.

Basically, you had Trey Flowers, Devin McCourty, Malcom Brown, Duron Harmon, Patrick Chung and Elandon Roberts playing with a bunch of rookies or new faces and street free agents.

Fast forward to this season and everyone was fully healthy and, largely, steeped in the scheme. That's the difference between last season and this one.

So with that as a backdrop, how would things work with Schiano as coordinator? From this perspective, Belichick will likely take an even larger role in gameplanning: This is Belichick's defense, and Schiano comes from a vastly different background.

"Schematically, we’re different," Schiano told me in 2012.

That, they are. Like from different worlds.

Schiano learned under two coaches, Joe Paterno at Penn State and Dave Wannstedt with the Bears, who were basically the same: 4-3 zone with a lot of Cover 3 principles. The strong safety would often come down into the box to give an eight-man front against the run. Three deep, four under against the pass. There was some one-gapping and stunts up front, so that translates to what the Patriots did down the stretch. But largely, Schiano avoided blitzing, aside from the occasional fire zone or zone exchange and would throw a lot of three-man rushes in there.

Schiano was a stubborn playcaller, someone who was risk averse and lacked creativity. I've had a lot of off-the-record conversations over the years with the Patriots players from Rutgers and they all bemoaned Schiano's lack of creativity and adjustments. "His adjustments? That's funny," one said. "He'd say, 'Just keep chopping wood.' That was his adjustment."

Basically, Rutgers just hoped the other team would make a mistake, like Brian Brohm did consistently in the second half in the Scarlet Knights' seminal upset of Louisville in 2006. There's a reason why Rutgers never won a Big East championship to advance to a BCS bowl despite playing in a weak conference with a ton of NFL talent — outside of that Louisville game, RU couldn't pull any upsets. That stemmed from Schiano's conservative approach to offense (won't be an issue with the Patriots) and lack of creativity on defense.

With Belichick in control of the gameplan, the Patriots' defense will continue to what it does better than anyone: Take away what the other team wants to do and accentuate the positives of their own players. As far as the actual playcalls during the game, that will certainly bear monitoring, due to Schiano's risk-adverse nature.

But as far as putting in the gameplan and structuring practice for that week's opponent — the largest part of the job for a Patriots coordinator — Schiano will do a great job. He is extremely well-organized and meticulous. His communication is simple and to the point. Those strengths allowed him to take Rutgers from nothing into a national program. Schiano is a great builder and communicator, but his lack of outside-the-box thinking put a cap on the heights the Scarlet Knights could achieve.

(One other thing I forgot to include: Schiano is tremendous at coaching fundamentals, especially in the secondary. It's why his Rutgers players transitioned so well and quickly to the NFL, especially with the Patriots.)

The bottom line: If you put Belichick's mind and experience together with Schiano's attention to detail, you have the makings of a very good defensive braintrust. There could be some growing pains with Schiano as a playcaller, but he'll follow Belichick's lead and coaching points.

With so many staff departures and an influx of people like Schiano not steeped in the Patriot Way stepping into leadership roles on defense, it's certainly a new age on that side of the ball in New England. But with Belichick always in charge, don't expect much change.