Sunday Patriots Notes: West coast offense ready to make debut in New England

Welcome to game day (finally). The New England Patriots are officially back as they are soon set to open their 2024 season against the Bengals.

So before kickoff, let’s open up the notebook in this week’s Sunday Patriots Notes.

1. West Coast changes: New England has seen plenty of change this offseason. But, as they kickoff their 2024 season on Sunday the changes will finally take center stage on the football field.

One of those changes will be a new offensive scheme, which is led by offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. After spending the majority of his professional coaching career under Mike McCarthy in Green Bay and Kevin Stefanski in Cleveland, Van Pelt has now brought the West Coast offense to New England this offseason — a change from the offensive philosophy under Bill Belichick, Josh McDaniels, Charlie Weis, etc. that has defined the organization for over 20 years.

The West Coast offense is all built around the zone run game, which former Patriots’ quarterback Brian Hoyer has seen first hand as his career included a stop in San Francisco under Kyle Shanahan.

On the Quick Snap podcast with Hoyer and center David Andrews, the quarterback shared Shanahan would shoot for 30 runs every game and would not get discouraged with a poor rushing average due to the ability to set up explosive play action passes.

“The thing that I love most about the system was 2-yard run, 3-yard run, 2-yard run, play-action pass for 30 [yards],” Hoyer explained. “You don’t get discouraged in the run because once [the defense is] all sucked up in the run, that’s when you’re hitting pop passes. That’s when you’re hitting these play action passes — we saw Drake [Maye] hit one [in the preseason finale], that crossing pattern, that’s all built upon the run game.

“Kyle [Shanahan] always said, ‘I always am shooting for 30 runs in a game because even if my average is three yards per carry, if I’m setting up 30-yard explosive pass plays it’s all worth it in the end.’”

A similar script could unfold for the Patriots in their season opener against the Bengals on Sunday. Jerod Mayo has consistently emphasized the importance of winning the trenches throughout the week, setting the stage for the offense to rely on the run game.

That run game will even have a new look, as the zone scheme varies from the traditional downhill gap look New England primarily use to major in.

“Everybody who watches it they think, ‘Oh you just run outside, run outside, run outside,’” Hoyer said. “And Kyle’s point was… yeah, running back you’re going to go for the D Gap but once [the defense] closed the D Gap, now you’re coming back to the C Gap, and now you’re coming back to the B Gap, now you’re in the A gap, now you’re the backside A gap.

“And the whole point of the offensive line is you keep running until one D-lineman is out of their gap and that’s when you hit it.”

Execution now takes focus on the field, as the zone run scheme can take time for offensive lineman to build chemistry playing off one another. But, if all goes well, Patriots football will look quite different than year’s pasts.

“This is a philosophy that people around here are not going to be used to,” Hoyer said. “Because in Josh [McDaniels’] system, it was positive runs, drop back pass, positive runs, 12 play drives. The whole thing was let’s not make any mistakes. We’re going to let you make a mistake.”

2. Increased responsibilities: Another change of the West Coast system is that more responsibility is put on the center pre-snap. In the Patriots past system, it was on the quarterback to direct the offensive line’s protections and checks. That now falls on Andrews, who is enjoying the new process.

“As an older guy, having to learn and reteach yourself has been fun. It’s been a fun challenge,” Andrews said. “I’ve never been in those [systems]… [the added responsibility] is great.”

3. Rookie standouts: When discussing New England’s rookie class, two members were highlighted by Andrews, who also shared that quarterback Drake Maye has been doing a “really great job.”

G Layden Robinson: “He’s really done a good job and he’s a tough kid, he’s very hardworking. And as a veteran you just want a rookie that wants to be a sponge, right? Let me soak up everything I can. I think he’s done a really good job.”

WR Ja’Lynn Polk: “Another good kid, really liked him. He was in [the facility], it was an off day, but went in there and worked out and stuff and I actually kicked him off the treatment table so I could get some… He took it great. But he was in there working out and I think like being — you want to see guys be a pro.”

4. Gonzalez’s praise: 2023 first-round draft pick Christian Gonzalez was a popular storyline this training camp as the cornerback seemed to be on the wrong side of plays more often than not. Cornerbacks coach Mike Pellegrino, however, is not worried about the 22-year m-old.

“I have a lot of faith in Christian. Christian’s a great player, he’s going to be a great player. I think he’s more than capable of picking right back up where he left off and his ability is one that I trust,” Pellegrino said.

“Experience is experience but when it comes to ability, there’s really no question in that.”

5. Tackle watch: The Patriots saw first-hand in their preseason finale how the league plans to enforce illegal formation penalties this season. They were reminded in the regular season opener when the Baltimore Ravens starting left tackle Ronnie Stanley was flagged four times for the same infraction in the first half.

In hopes of not being hurt by the rule, where tackles must have their helmet aligned at the waist of the center before the snap, in Week 1, New England had staff members on both sides of the line of scrimmage in practice this week to make sure everyone was lining up correctly.

6. Trust in Mayo: “I think no doubt in my mind just being in the locker room, like all those guys trust you,” Davon Godchaux said to Jerod Mayo on a recent episode of his ChauxTalk podcast.

“All those guys are running to a brick wall behind you — including myself. Just having the culture of you playing football, knowing how it’s done, and then coming out to mentoring us each and every day to do the right thing.”

7. Guardian cap: The NFL made it legal to wear the protective guardian caps in game this season — which some players around the league took advantage of during the preseason. Safety Jabrill Peppers experimented with the look this week as he wore the in-game helmet sleeve over the cap for Wednesday’s practice.

The safety was still debating whether or not to wear it in the game, but perhaps indicated he will ditch the cap as he used just his regular helmet in Friday’s practice.

8. Return game: Since 2000, the Patriots have had three punt or kick returns for touchdowns on opening day — the last coming in 2010 when Brandon Tate returned a kickoff for 97 yards against. the Bengals. New England will look for a repeat this year under the new dynamic kickoff, which has primarily resulted in touchbacks to begin the regular season.

9. Slow starters: The Patriots (+7.5) sit as the league’s biggest Week 1 underdog over on FanDuel, but history shows they could be in a spot to pull off an upset. Since 2020, Cincinnati is just 1-7 over the first two weeks of the season, tied for the worst record in the NFL.

10. Setting up the week ahead: Following Sunday’s game, it’s back into full-time regular season mode for the Patriots. They will be in the facility on Monday before a day off on Tuesday, which is proceeded by practices on Wednesday through Friday as they prepare for their home opener against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.