The New England Patriots have won football games in a lot of different ways over the 20 seasons that Bill Belichick has been the team's head coach, and we'll probably see the team evolve again without Tom Brady.
For the first time since 2001, the Patriots will go into a season without Brady as their starting quarterback after he left the franchise in March to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in NFL free agency.
Download the MyTeams app for the latest Patriots news and analysis
Without a 20-year veteran and six-time Super Bowl champion leading the offense, the Patriots likely will need to change their plan of attack on both sides of the ball. Could we see the Patriots return to a game plan tailored around controlling time of possession and winning low-scoring games?
Former Patriots center Dan Koppen did an interview Monday on WEEI's "Ordway, Merloni & Fauria", and he was asked about the difficulty of building a new contending team with Brady gone.
"It’s uncharted waters," Koppen said. "I think if there's one guy who can do it, it’s definitely Bill. What you saw him do in the draft -- and I'm not going to say I know what they're doing because I don't talk to a lot of guys up there anymore -- I think he's going to do it through defense and special teams. For them not to go draft a quarterback, that kinda tells you they like (Jarrett) Stidham. We did a lot of different offenses. We went from a ground and pound, ball-possession-type team, playing great defense to win the 9-3 games. We could win those 31-29 games as well. Maybe they’re going to go back to what we were in 2003 and 2004 when we were more ball possession and we’re going to win it on defense until we see what this kid's got."
Based on the Patriots' free agent signings and the 10 players they selected in the 2020 draft, a strong case could be made that Belichick will try to win on defense next season.
It's not a bad strategy, either, especially when you consider how well the team's defense played in 2019. The Patriots defense finished at, or near the top of the league in many statistical categories, and it ranked No. 1 in fewest points and yards allowed per game. Sure, the defense wasn't as dominant over the second half of the season when the schedule got tougher, but it still was among the league's best units.
New England Patriots
Replacing the veteran defensive players who left in free agency, including linebackers Jamie Collins and Kyle Van Noy, will definitely be a challenge. That said, the Patriots spent their first three 2020 draft picks on defensive players, including safety Kyle Dugger (Round 2), linebacker Josh Uche (Round 2) and linebacker Anfernee Jennings (Round 3).
It's hard to predict what the Patriots will look like next season, even if oddsmakers like their chances of returning to the playoffs, but perhaps that unpredictability could work in their favor and make it harder for opponents to game plan against them.
Listen and subscribe to Tom E. Curran's Patriots Talk Podcast: