When the New England Patriots gave the starting quarterback job to Cam Newton, they were committing to building an offense around him.
That’s how New England does it. Bill Belichick insinuated as much when he said in Sept. that “everything we’ve done for the last 20 years, and rightfully so, was for Tom Brady.” A similar logic applies to their next quarterback, Newton. They’ll make their offensive decisions around him. But because Newton and Brady have some significant differences in their style of play, the Patriots have had to morph their offense.
“It’s different,” offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels told reporters on Tuesday. “There’s certainly a huge chunk of what we’ve been able to try and do in the past that we continue to try and do. You take certain strengths of each player and in this particular case we’re talking about the quarterback. You take the strengths of the players that you have and you try to put them in the positions to be successful that they have the most confidence in.
“Whether it is some version of an adjustment in the running game, some ability to use his legs or his size and strength, we’ve tried to do some of all of that. At the same time, the most important thing for us and for Cam, is to run the offense.”
There is overlap between the offense that Newton runs and the one Brady ran. McDaniels noted that Newton will need to execute the same fundamentals that Brady did. That means that some plays will be identical. But he and Newton are working together to make sure the offense is the best it can be every week as New England designs their custom game plan for each opponent.
“I think the development, even though he’s played in the league a long time, I think the development of this year for him as a player and our team as an offense, is far from over. Really enjoying the process. I look forward to every day I get to coach him and he obviously reciprocates that with his effort and the time he spends trying to prepare himself for the game.”
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