FOXBOROUGH - Bill O'Brien didn't avoid criticism in this corner for the Patriots' anemic offensive start. Still, he, more than anyone associated with that side of the ball, had everything working against him - the offensive line's lack of continuity and, at some spots, terrible play, receivers who don't separate, and a quarterback who had taken so many steps backward that it was hard to remember when he started. But there were signs O'Brien was finding answers in the second half of the Raiders game, and that continued in Sunday's win over the Bills.
It started with getting the ball out of Mac Jones' hands quicker. No one in the league has been faster from snap to release over the last two weeks than the third-year pro. Yes, some of that has been out of necessity - trying to block Maxx Crosby with Vederian Lowe was never going to work in Vegas - but also because O'Brien's attempting to rebuild Jones's cracked foundation.
With this group struggling to stress anyone vertically, the Pats have made a more conscious effort to work every blade of grass, turf, or whatever horizontally, throwing sideways to Demario Douglas and Rhamondre Stevenson or finding Kendrick Bourne on a crosser. That allows the playmakers to do what they do best, operating in space and with a head of steam. Sign me up for more of that.
Another part that has led to more success is O'Brien's leaning into more motion and pre-snap shifts. In fact, the Pats have the highest rate of that in the league over the last two weeks, doing so on over 76% of their snaps. It's helped create confusion for opposing defenses. There was a lot of finger-pointing and late, unsure movement from the Bills linebackers and safeties than I can't recall seeing consistently from a Pats' opponent all season.
"I definitely enjoyed that part of the game," said Jones when talking about the stress motion can put on a defense. "Just focus on, you know, how can we do that to get guys open, create areas in the defense that become open because of that, and you see that around the NFL, a lot of teams use motion. High school football is big now. College football it's been big for a while. I definitely enjoy watching other teams use it as well and what you can learn from that information."
So how has O'Brien arrived at this conclusion, at least in recent weeks? He said he wouldn't share the advantages he thinks it creates, joking that's something we should ask him a few years from now or maybe after his career, but I previously laid out the most obvious reasons. As for how the Pats will utilize it going forward, O'Brien took the micro view.
"How does that affect the teams were going against - the defenses were going against? How does that affect us? How does that affect us relative to what we're trying to get done? Definitely think every week is a different game, different opponent, so we kind of assess, 'Okay, what's the best way to go against these guys?' and make that determination early in the week and practice it. There's a lot that goes into that, a lot of timing."
One more thing worth mentioning about O'Brien - he has always been known as a fiery guy. If you watched the first six games, you know he had plenty of rights to throw tablets, spike headsets, and ransack the Gatorade table. But that anger hasn't manifested on the field, at least not yet. But Hunter Henry assured us not to worry; that intensity is still a part of the offensive coordinator.
"Yeah, he's got some fire, man. He's got some passion," Henry said, smiling. "I like that, man. I love that. This means a lot. I think we have a lot of guys in that room that it means a lot to them, and it starts with the guy that kind of leads the room, and you can see the passion, the fire. You know, he takes this personally every single day. And you know you get fired up to go out there and play for a guy like that."