New England Patriots
McDaniels to lean on Cassel year
It seems like yesterday, but it was quite a long time ago. In 2008, Tom Brady went down with a knee injury and Matt Cassel took over. Still, New England won the AFC East that season and a big reason why was offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. While the circumstances are much different, there won’t be Brady under center in 2020 for McDaniels. It will be either Cam Newton or Jarrett Stidham.
Interestingly this past week via Patriots Wire, McDaniels referenced he’s going to approach this upcoming year like the one when he had Cassel.
“I’m thankful for the experiences that I’ve had when I didn’t have Tom. Believe me, no one was happier to have him out there when he was out there for all the years I was fortunate to coach him,” McDaniels said. “But I would say I did have some experience with the Matt Cassel year, which I learned a lot about how to tailor something to somebody else’s strengths, we had to play that four-game stretch a handful of years ago with Jacoby and Jimmy, I thought that was helpful. And I was away for three years. So trying to really adapt … it’s not changing your system, it’s adapting your system to the talents and strengths of your players.”