No team in the NFL has proven to make halftime adjustments like the New England Patriots.
Bill Belichick and his team typically feels out their opponent in the first half, while making any necessary adjustments to win in the second half. This was true in Super Bowl LI when New England came back and defeated the Atlanta Falcons. It’s also been true over the past two decades, according to this chart from Reddit.
The #Patriots ability win after making halftime adjustments over the past two decades is insane. https://t.co/vP5V7BhRdw
— Isaiah (@isaiah_houde) November 26, 2019
So, how does New England squeeze in these adjustments with only 13 minutes to do so? Josh McDaniels gave a thorough answer after getting asked this question by reporters on Tuesday.
“Yes, it’s a short period,” McDaniels said. “But the guys have very specific roles in that regard in terms of the things that they’re responsible to keep track of and communicate, and usually we try to get a little bit of a jump start on that. If the defense is out there in the last couple minutes then we would be talking about some of the things we want to discuss at halftime with the players, some adjustments we would make, anything that’s given us issues. You want to discuss those things and make sure that we have those things taken care of. If you’re on offense at the end, like we were the other night, certainly if you discussed anything prior to that, then that list has already begun.
“We took up the last two-and-a-half minutes of the second quarter the other night, so really didn’t get that opportunity to do that. But you’re walking into the tunnel, you usually walk with a couple of the guys on the field and they have a few things that they want to make sure that we get across. Our players are great. Right when we get into the locker room, they sit, give us their attention, we discuss a couple things. You can’t go over everything, so you have to make sure you hit the big things. Anything that may be an issue that’s come up repeatedly in the first half that we need to address, we try to do that right away. And anything that we need to adjust or anything we’re going to change or put in at halftime, we discuss that.”
McDaniels is speaking about New England’s Week 12 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. The Patriots won 13-9 and they had to make the adjustments necessary to keep Dallas off the scoreboard, while scoring in rainy conditions.
“We want to try to make sure you let them know what we’re going to try to start with in the third quarter as we go back out there,” McDaniels continued. “It happens quick, but we have a veteran staff. The guys do a great job, the assistant coaches do a great job of making sure that all the things that they want me to be aware of that they have them charted, listed and ready to discuss and quickly jot them on the board and then give the message to the players and then go back out and play.”
It’s easy to let emotions take over and waste valuable time during this halftime exchange, but the Patriots utilize every last second of it — resulting in one of the most successful NFL franchises in recent history.
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