FOXBOROUGH - In my opinion, no one has faced more scrutiny in his role this season than Alex Van Pelt. Not the first-year head coach, not the first-year GM, not even the quarterbacks. Nope. Van Pelt has been in focus since the day he got hired — he was the 12th guy they interviewed — and his every move since has been critiqued.
Is the offense stuck in the roots of its earliest forms (say, 1999)? Is this coordinator doing enough to mitigate offensive line issues? Is Van Pelt playing to Drake Maye's strengths? Why does Pop Douglas go invisible for weeks at a time? Did the coach get away from the run too early? Did he run it too much? Unless this offense is producing at the level of the record-setting 2007-08 bunch, the veteran assistant has nowhere to run and hide, maybe even in his own building.
Longtime NFL reporter/insider Albert Breer appeared on Boston Sports Tonight with Michael Felger and Michael Holley and revealed that ownership has been making calls to gauge how to proceed with a young quarterback, especially after having watched the Mac Jones era implode.
When pushed if those calls meant Van Pelt was in trouble, Breer said, "I think that's all under evaluation."
Generally, moving on from a coordinator, especially one tasked with developing a potential franchise quarterback, is frowned upon. In fact, I'd say it comes directly from the bad franchise handbook, which the Patriots have become over these last few years. Look what happened to some of the supposed answers at the position in recent years, and how quickly it unraveled for them as their organization got into the coaching carousel, from the top job to the coordinator. Of the 41 quarterbacks selected in the first round between 2011-2023, 24 of the signal callers had new OCs in year two. That is a staggering number, and the bust rate - at least on their original team - is alarming. Don't. Be. That. Team.
"I think Buffalo is a good example," said Breer. "When Sean McDermott first got there, he went and hired Rick Dennison, who is one of Mike Shanahan's OGs, like one of the guys who was there on the ground floor with Mike Shanahan to put in that offense. It did not work (in Buffalo), and they went and got Brian Daboll in year two to work with Josh Allen. These things happen sometimes after year one or year two. I don't think Alex Van Pelt has done as terrible a job as a lot of people think.
"Because I look at it and I see Drake Maye making fundamental progress, I think that he is a much better quarterback than he was in April and May, more prepared to play in the NFL. But there's a lot of different elements to developing a young quarterback, and I think that they (ownership) want to see around their blind spots."
Perhaps. Or, maybe they're being a little too hands-on. A decision like this one could backfire, and then you find yourself back in the market for an OC again for year three, with the clock ticking on a rookie quarterback contract. Aside from the program's direction, nothing is more important than getting the right quarterback and surrounding him with the right people, players, and coaches. Right now, Van Pelt has the backing of Maye.
"It's been huge," Maye said of Van Pelt's influence. "I think it's just a confidence booster for a quarterback. You love playing for an offensive coordinator like AVP. He's positive, and also, by the same time will coach you hard. He's done it. He's played quarterback in this league and at a high level. So he knows what needs to be done..."
From what I can gather from talking to people inside that building and locker room, the 22-year-old is quite fond of the 54-year-old OC. I'm told Maye appreciates how he's being coached because, as he referenced in the above quote, Van Pelt is intent on getting to the heart of the matter, and that's what the kid wants. Maye wants to be great and feels like Van Pelt is helping him take steps in that direction.
"I think I’ve come a long way within the system, learning the system, knowing what to do, knowing where guys line up, getting in and out of run checks and pass things," he told us today.
While the results haven't been mind-boggling, the offense averages a touchdown more per game under Maye than it was with Jacoby Brissett over the first five weeks (19.6 PPG vs 12.4 PPG).
"He's been huge," said Mayo on Van Pelt. "I say, look, there's no one in this organization that deserves more credit as far as what Drake has been able to do on the football field than Alex Van Pelt. When we interviewed Alex, I would say, when we interviewed all of the coaches that are here, one of the prerequisites, or requirements was a guy who was level-headed, a guy who believes in working together, and a guy who doesn't get too high, doesn't get too low. And that's Alex. And I appreciate that."
But praise aside, Mayo has been part of the equation as we've opined whether Van Pelt is the long-term answer at OC. The head coach made a handful of references to the scheme needing to be better during the first month and change of the season. He wasn't saying that about the defense, which also struggling mightily at the time. Instead, Mayo placed that on the players themselves. So, I felt compelled to ask if the head coach liked the trajectory that the offense is now on.
"I am happy with the trajectory," he replied. "I hate to do this, but let's look back at the last game. And so we were one for five in the red area. But before that, in the previous four games, we had nine drives in the red zone; eight of them were touchdowns, and one of them was a field goal. And so I think you can't - there's a balance, right? There's a balance in giving Drake and the rest of the offense - I know everyone wants to focus on the quarterback because he touches the ball every snap - but you have to remember, like, we just had a conversation about hopefully having the same offensive line out there. It's not just Drake, it's not just the receivers, it's not just any one person. It's a combination of things."
That combination is working at a higher level than it did prior, and if it continues to show improvement, despite an obvious lack of talent at key positions (tackle, left guard, wide receiver), then Van Pelt will have made as strong a case as one can to be brought back for year two. There are, of course, no guarantees in this business, but Maye's wishes should carry a lot more weight than the guy (Mac) before him.
