In a tease that likely played to his inherent showman, Cam Newton flirted with the Patriots-loving football world about two weeks ago when he was asked what excites him the most about what he can do in the Patriots' offense.
"I think the most exciting thing is that nobody knows. And you're still not gonna know. So you just got to tune in and see," Newton said, with a wide grin. "That’s what excites me the most because everybody's kinda having the same questions like, ‘What are they going to do? Are they going to do this? Are they going to do that? Are they gonna do that? Are they gonna do this?' ... I mean, come on. It’s almost game week, guy. You can’t just let all of the tricks out of the hat."
Newton might as well have winked and blown a kiss to Patriots fans. Huge tease.
And how about the debut?
Certainly productive and efficient. And for an offense that for 20 years featured Tom Brady operating from the pocket, it was certainly different looking when Newton was featured heavily in the running game with read-option and other tactics.
It was fun. It looked different.
Cool.
But how exotic was it, really? Was The Great Unveiling all that different than what they've done in the past — outside of the QB being a weapon in the run game?
No, it wasn't. The Patriots still pulled their guards a ton to run power. They had cross-blocking involving the tight ends. They threw slants to Julian Edelman over the middle.
It was a barebones version of the Patriots' offense designed — as always — to get the most efficient execution in order to win that game.
So, basically, Newton got us all hot and bothered for nothing. Outside of apparently Dolphins coach Brian Flores (man coverage, really?), that's exactly the type of offense you'd expect Newton to be running — he's been doing it his entire career.
And that's actually great news for the Patriots entering Sunday night against the Seahawks.
New England's offense hasn't really revealed itself yet. Expect to see Phase 2 (of about 8) in Seattle.
Here are some of the things I think we'll see on Sunday and beyond:
Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels are no idiots. They knew the Dolphins were rebuilding on defense and they knew exactly how Flores would play them — they trained him. They also knew the entire NFL – especially Buffalo, Baltimore and Kansas City — couldn't wait to watch the film of that game with no preseason games to even glimpse at.
So the Patriots scaled everything back. Not just for that reason — Newton's a neophyte in this system. But that was a big factor.
There were obviously, if you were paying attention, two deceptive plays that peeked out against the Dolphins but weren't really used — a possible halfback option pass by James White (he pulled it down and ran with it). And a triple option — with a pass in the flat to N'Keal Harry one of the options — that was not run because the Dolphins brought a bad box and Newton handed the ball off.
But that's about it. Outside of those two plays, the Patriots were fairly paint by numbers for a run-based scheme. McDaniels made every run and pass look the same — something that's always done in this offense — to keep the Dolphins even more confused, and it worked.
The Patriots also knew they'd have the Seahawks in Week 2, so it would make sense for New England to hold some things back to "surprise" Seattle with.
What do I think we'll see a lot more of?
QUICK-HITTING RUNS
We saw a ton of power runs against Miami — the Patriots love to pull their guards to suck in the linebackers, and either hand it off or go up top for play-action. It's one of their favorite tactics to get a little open space in the middle of the field.
But those plays take a long time and everyone involved takes a pounding. We didn't coin it Bully Ball for nothing.
And against a very, very fast defense like Seattle's, those plays aren't a great idea. Yes, you can push them around, but once their defenders start beating the blockers to the spot, things can get blown up. And you might as well call former Jets safety Jamal Adams TNT (notice the pulling guard on the first one, and the cross-blocking TE on the second one — both favored plays by the Patriots vs. Miami).
So what kind of running plays do you use against a fast defense, that the Patriots have liked to do in the past?
Whams/Traps
Coach Cory Bailey wrote about those for us a while back.
The Patriots will let one player go unblocked initially, with the hope he charges up the field and opening a large hole, and then a backside player will clean their clock. Here's a wham against another fast defense of the Colts:
#Patriots — Wham scheme with Gronkowski blocking the DT. Could see this in #SBLIII vs. #Rams/Suh. @NFLMatchup pic.twitter.com/WRFLrC5wkE
— Matt Bowen (@MattBowen41) January 26, 2019
