After last year’s failed offensive coaching experiment, the Patriots brought back Bill O’Brien to be the team’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
O’Brien last coached for the Patriots in 2011, when he held the same title. He’s back after stints with Penn State, the Texans, and Alabama to lead the club’s O.
In his Wednesday press conference, head coach Bill Belichick said the offense won’t be starting from scratch under O’Brien.
“Every year is different,” Belichick said. “So, you always make adaptations to your system — at least we always do, shouldn’t say everybody does, we do — make adaptations to our system on offense, defense, special teams based on either trends, things that we want to do, things we’ve seen other teams do that we want to incorporate, things like that. So, this year would fall into that category, all three phases as well. So a lot of things are the same, some things we’ve modified.
“We’ll see how it goes. I’m sure we’ll make other adjustments as we go through the spring and training camp.”
Belichick also said he loves working with O’Brien.
“Bill does a great job,” Belichick said. “Had a great relationship with Bill all the way back to before we hired him the first time. And it’s continued, so it’s been — getting up there — around 20 years, somewhere in there.
“Bill’s detailed, he’s smart, he’s got a lot of experience. He’s worked with a lot of different players, different situations.”
The Patriots finished last season 17th in points scored but just 26th in total yards. They’ll need those numbers to come up significantly if the club is to contend in what should be a competitive AFC East in 2023.
