FOXBOROUGH - It’s always hard to balance what a team looks like in training camp practices and trying to project how the things you are seeing in that environment will actually play out when the games count.
For instance, in 2022, I (and many others) kept writing and talking about how disjointed the Matt Patricia/Joe Judge offense looked. In nearly three decades of covering this team/the league, I’d never seen a group look that incompetent. Lo and behold, that power dynamic - and the stupidity behind it - was the beginning of the end of the Bill Belichick era and Mac Jones’ time as the team’s quarterback (as well as Patricia and Judge).
But other examples run counter to what was observed at this time of year. Like, I never expected the Pats offense to be as prolific as it was a season ago, when it was top-5 in nearly every important modern metric used to evaluate the game. We may have stories to do today, but especially with new players/schemes, etc., you need to keep gathering evidence before you can reach a firm conclusion.
That’s why I have been hesitant to go full five-alarm fire on the running game, despite their inability to create noteworthy space for Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson. But since Sunday was our first time this summer speaking with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, I asked him if it was difficult to gauge where they were in that regard. He went through it chapter and verse.
“It's always a little difficult to gauge this because you don't tackle the runner (in practice), which people sometimes forget,” he said. “Like the runner's a pretty big part of the running game. And getting them onto the ground is, in and of itself, not an easy thing to do. We got some good backs. They do things with the ball in their hands, and I know sometimes it looks like maybe the play was a three- or four-yard run, but it might not have been. It might have been bigger than that.
“I think all the other aspects of taking care of each other. We're not really trying to put people on the ground. We're certainly not cutting on the backside. You know, it was good to see us the other night in the game and get a couple. You get an opportunity to cut somebody because it's an actual football game, so there's certain things you have to continue to coach and work on without seeing them.
“But honestly, you never really know. You get to the regular season, and then I think that the last 10 years here, maybe even longer, have become one of the great challenges for coaches: the running game needs to be continued, a work in progress as we enter the regular season, September, October. I thought last year we made progress as the season went on, and I don't see this year being any different.”
Had McDaniels loved where they were, he would have said so. But there was also no