The New England Patriots will see a whole lot of their former offensive coordinator this season.
The Patriots will face the Las Vegas Raiders and new head coach Josh McDaniels in both the 2022 preseason (Week 3) and regular season (Week 15). It appears the teams will also practice together, as well: New England and Las Vegas will hold joint practices prior to their preseason contest, Greg Bedard of the Boston Sports Journal reports.
On the one hand, this news isn't surprising. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has scheduled joint practices with at least one team for nearly every year of the past decade, and there's a ton of familiarity between New England and Las Vegas: McDaniels and Raiders general manager Dave Ziegler both spent extensive time with Belichick's Patriots, while a host of Las Vegas coaches and players -- including recently-traded quarterback Jarrett Stidham -- are Patriots alumni.
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Save the dates: Here's the Patriots' schedule for 2022 season
New England almost never holds joint practices with a team it will play during the regular season, however, as there's an opportunity for teams to do quite a bit of scouting during joint practices that could lead to some game-planning advantages.
The Patriots usually don't play preseason games on the West Coast, either, and have never had a joint practice in the Pacific time zone. So if they're out in Las Vegas for that whole week -- it's still unclear where the joint practices will be held -- that would be a first in the Belichick era.
It appears Belichick and Co. are making an exception to spend time with some old friends, though.
New England Patriots
The Patriots will also host joint practices with the Carolina Panthers before their preseason opener, per reports, so they'll be plenty busy during the preseason.