INDIANAPOLIS — According to Mike Vrabel, it’s not just big-name additions that will make for a successful Patriots offseason.
It’s small tweaks to the little details.
“I think right now it’s about, from a coaching standpoint, what we did well, how we can enhance it. The new ideas,” Vrabel said this week at the NFL Scouting Combine. “We have to have fresh ideas to what we’re doing in all three phases. That’s been my direction to the staff is to go through and focus on what we can do to enhance the core concepts, but also, I need to see some new ideas that maybe force us to push ourselves in a different direction.”
Among the changes Vrabel appears to be pushing for is how quarterbacks and wide receivers read defenses within certain plays. In the postseason, the Patriots struggled at times against defenses that disguised well, which stressed the chemistry between Drake Maye and his receivers because pass-catchers will often change their routes based on the defense. But if the quarterback and his target don’t see coverage the same way, the timing is thrown, and there’s virtually no chance of a completion.
“It’s about everybody seeing it through the same set of eyes,” Vrabel said. “I mean, if you want to say, ‘Yeah, we have route conversions,’ which a lot of people do. We do. That’s no surprise. But I mean, there’s two people that have to see it the same, the quarterback and the receiver, and those are things we’ll continue to work on.”
Vrabel mentioned formations and motions among other ways the Patriots can enhance their core offensive plays. He also shared that he’s encouraged his assistants to seek new ideas at all levels of football, realizing it’s rare to have brand new ideas in today’s game, but common to see fresh twists on old concepts.
“Everybody wants to be a guru, but you look around and a lot of these things look the same, and there are a lot of good ideas,” Vrabel said. “Like I tell them, it’s only crazy if it doesn’t work.”