The Savior
Written by: Wayne G
Patriots Endzone
The New England Patriots were a disappointment last season. Finishing 8-9 and missing the playoffs, with much of the blame on an abysmal offense. Mac Jones took a huge step backwards, and at times looked like he may have even fallen off a cliff in his second season. Not a sophomore slump, but a season that prompted many fans to think they maybe should've never drafted him in the first place. Like a civil war, the battle lines were drawn between the many residing in Patriots Nation. On one side, the folks blaming the young quarterback, and on the other, folks blaming defensive consultant turned offensive coordinator, Matt Patricia. No matter who you blamed, a new dawn has arrived with the spring, warming the frozen hearts of Massachusetts.
The First Coming
From 2007 to 2011, Bill O’Brien was a part of the New England Patriots coaching staff. The final year of which, he was the teams offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. During the 2011 season, the Patriots had the leagues third best scoring offense (32.1 ppg).
They had the second most yards (6,848) and 2nd most passing yards behind the Saints (5,084). This was not the Randy Moss season, The first time Tom Brady ever threw for 5,000 yards, his top pass catchers were Wes Welker, Rob Gronkowski, Aaron Hernandez, and Deion Branch. Bill O’Brien was dubbed an offensive genius for his play calling, and over the next 3 seasons, Tom Brady would throw for fewer and fewer yards each season, under O'Brien's replacement, Josh McDaniels.
During those seasons, O’Brien took over the program at Penn State. Heavily sanctioned by the NCAA and ridiculed after the Jerry Sandusky nightmare, they managed to go 8-4 and win the Big10. Their offense, which had averaged 19ppg the previous season skyrocketed to 29ppg. Quarterback Mat McGloin made the jump from 54% passing, with 1,571 yards and 8 touchdowns, to lighting up the scoreboard in 2012. He completed 61% of his passes for 3,271 yards and 24 touchdowns. It was not just Boston fans looking through rose colored glasses. O’Brien was in fact a genius and a quarterback whisperer.
Death
Bill O'Brien's legacy has been tarnished, and he did become a joke during his time as the head coach of the Houston Texans. Despite a winning record (52-44) which included a pair of double digit win seasons, he will be remembered for making bad trades and alienating his top players. It doesn't matter that he took a team that averaged 17 points per game, to consistently averaging in the mid 20’s. It doesn't matter that under O’Brien, quarterback Deshaun Watson had the best season of his career, which led to the biggest guaranteed contract in NFL history. He will be viewed as a failure, despite being an offensive success, His relegation back to the college ranks will appear as a punishment, rather than an opportunity to show what he is,has always been, and will be again.
Resurrection
Bill O’Brien showed up at Alabama, just as Mac Jones was leaving. Despite what lying New England beat writers might have you believe, the only relationship that existed between the two was O’Brien saying “Good luck in the NFL kid.”
With two seasons coaching Bryce Young, the Tide coordinator had back-to-back top 10 scoring offenses, and averaged 480 yards per game (310 passing). Without O’Brien calling the plays for Alabama, Bryce Young is not the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
The the phone rang. It was time to come home. Coach Belichick needed his offensive genius to retool the entire playbook for him. He needed the quarterback whisperer to teach one of his young signal callers how to run an NFL offense. He needed to make the team's offense good enough to actually compliment what will yet again be a top 5 defense in New England to get the team to the playoffs, and possibly, back to the Super Bowl. Whether Bill O’Brien can lead the Patriots to the promised land is yet to be seen. But what has been witnessed, and cannot be denied by even the most agnostic of fans, is that O’Brien is an offensive genius, and the rest of the AFC is in trouble.
Wayne G is the host of a weekly Youtube show called Patriots Endzone. You can find the channel here. You can also follow on Twitter @PatriotsEZ.
Comments