Cassel: Why we should see a more aggressive Patriots offense on MNF

In one sense, Bill Belichick is right. It's hard to make a complete overhaul of your offensive scheme in the middle of the season.

You just don't have enough time to implement new plays with all of the bells and whistles that you want to put in. There's just not enough time on task. Philosophically, you can't just go from a spread offense to a heavy running team, or vice versa.

But there are subtle changes you can make if things aren't working.

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For example, when I was in Kansas City and our offense was struggling, we decided to implement a no-huddle package. We had a bunch formation, a triple formation and a two-by-two formation, and we had one word that would describe what we wanted to do at the line of scrimmage. We weren't necessarily implementing new plays, but we were changing the tempo to try to get the defense off-balance.

There are also specific changes you can make with your personnel groupings in terms of who you want to put on the field. You can mix up your play-calling as well by calling more of a certain pass play or run play.

You still want to be able to play fast, though, so there are only so many things you can change at this point in the season without messing everything up. A complete overhaul on offense is very difficult for players to adapt to during the season.

There are new plays that are added every week. But you still have your core foundation of plays, whether it's inside zone in the running game or your stick-route concepts and slant concepts in the passing game. So, the new plays you implement generally build on that foundation, rather than the foundation changing from week to week.

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In terms of who gets input on those new plays, the quarterback always does a bit more. He's an extension of the coaching staff on the field and the guy who has the ball in his hand trying to execute the play.

Wide receivers might make suggestions, but they're not in the game-planning meetings. Instead, they might say, "Hey, I think I can beat this guy on the outside," or make other subtle suggestions like that.

More shots downfield in Arizona?

The Patriots ran a lot of "quick game" and screen passes last week against the Buffalo Bills. But that was a top-ranked defense that's strong on all levels. Buffalo has a very good secondary and plays with two high safeties to try to take away the explosive play. So, the Patriots had to be diligent with the ball and take the checkdowns as opposed to taking shots downfield.

Monday night should be an opportunity for Mac Jones to open things up a bit.

The Arizona Cardinals' defensive coordinator, Vance Joseph, likes to send pressure and create 1-on-1 opportunities on the outside. His defenses usually play more man-to-man coverage than zone, and that could be more beneficial to the Patriots taking shots if they believe they can win matchups with receivers like DeVante Parker and Nelson Agholor.

New England needs to be calculated in taking those shots, though. Most teams have a script of about 20 offensive plays to start the game that they think will be successful. So, you have a good understanding of how the flow of the game should go early on. Then it's a matter of understanding how the defense is playing you, getting a sense of their tendencies and seeing how you can exploit favorable matchups by dialing up a deep shot.

Primed for a Mac Attack

I expect the Patriots to have a more aggressive offensive attack Monday than what we saw last week.

If you go back to the Minnesota game, the Patriots were able to get their play-action pass going and take more shots down the field because they were facing a less dangerous pass rush than New York or Buffalo. The Cardinals haven't been particularly strong in the pass rush -- they only have 23 sacks on the entire year -- so if the offensive line can hold their blocks, New England should be able to get into a good rhythm in the passing game.

I believe Mac Jones will have a big game this week. The Cardinals are better against the run than they are against the pass, so that's a favorable matchup for Mac, which means they could lean on the pass more and deploy an attack similar to what we saw in Minnesota on Thanksgiving.

Editor's Note: Matt Cassel played 14 years in the NFL as a quarterback, including four with the Patriots from 2005 to 2008. He serves as an analyst for NBC Sports Boston, appearing on Pre/Postgame Live, as a guest on Tom Curran's Patriots Talk Podcast every Thursday, and as a columnist each week during the season.