Patriots Stay Quiet On Play Caller Mystery Ahead Of Dolphins Game

The New England Patriots lost Josh McDaniels early in the offseason. The former Patriots offensive coordinator left the organization to become the next head coach for the Las Vegas Raiders. McDaniels left a big void in the Patriots coaching staff. Head coach Bill Belichick said his team won’t have an offensive and defensive coordinator, and guess what… He hasn’t changed his mind. Joe Judge and Matt Patricia did some work this summer, but neither of them was listed as the next OC. The Patriots head coach doesn’t even want to talk about his play caller either.

Bill Belichick has yet to name his play caller

Here’s what Belichick and Tom E. Curran talked during a recent exchange:

Curran: “How much can you unveil to us how the process has worked going into this game? I mean is it a collaboration? Is Matt at the forefront? Is it a mind melt of everybody?”

Belichick: “We have a good staff. We have a lot of people on both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively, everybody contributes. Ultimately, I have responsibility for everything that happens on the field. In the end, I’ll take responsibility for that. But we have a lot of great members of the staff. A lot of different ideas come from different areas or a collaboration of ideas. We’ll see how it goes.”

Tom E. Curran didn’t get an answer

Curran: “Who sets the script? I know you guys probably script a little bit. Is it you and Matt and Mac? You, Matt, Mac and Joe (Judge)?”

Belichick: “Script what? What are you talking about?”

Curran: “I would imagine you guys must script some plays. Like your first third and long, you’re going to look to do this. Or whatever. I know that in the NFL teams who have scripted plays for a long time. So I guess I’m presuming that there’s probably some scripting.”

Belichick: “Yeah, again generally if you were to talk about a situation like that you talk to the entire staff there and say, ‘Okay first third-and-one here’s what we practiced, what are we thinking?’ Somebody might say ‘let’s do that,’ or ‘this will be a real good time to do that and then come back with that one the second third-and-one.’ Those suggestions, those ideas, can come from everybody and anybody. And I’d say that’s the way it’s always been.”

Fans trust the process

Patriots fans will have to wait until Week 1 to get a response to all their questions. Belichick is not someone who relies on titles. He just wants everyone to get the job done.