Tag: Cam Achord

Giants hire Cam Achord as special teams assistant

The New York Giants have hired former New England Patriots special teams coordinator Cam Achord as an assistant special teams coach.

The New York Giants continued to round out their coaching staff on Friday, hiring Cam Achord as an assistant special teams coach.

ESPN’s Jordan Raanan was the first to report news of the hiring.

The 37-year-old Achord began his coaching career as a special teams graduate assistant for Southern Mississippi in 2010. In 2012, he was promoted to offensive graduate assistant before joining Southwest Mississippi Community College in 2013.

Achord remained at Southwest Mississippi CC through 2017, serving in various roles ranging from running backs coach to special teams coordinator to offensive coordinator.

In 2018, Bill Belichick hired Achord as the New England Patriots’ assistant special teams coach. In 2020, he became the team’s special teams coordinator, where he remained through the 2023 regular season.

During his time with the Patriots, Achord picked up a Super Bowl LIII title.

The Giants had an opening at the position after promoting Mike Adams to assistant secondary coach.

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Cam Achord hints at new role for Joe Judge

Cam Achord is excited to work with Joe Judge in a different capacity.

There have been rumors all offseason about New England Patriots assistant coach Joe Judge changing his role. Now, those rumors are confirmed.

Special teams coordinator Cam Achord spoke to the media and confirmed the changes.

Judge was an offensive assistant with the team last year, helping Matt Patricia call offensive plays. There were reports earlier this year that Judge would be assuming a new role in a different capacity, and now it appears he is going back to special teams.

New England’s special teams were one of the worst in football last season with the Patriots allowing two kickoff returns for touchdowns against the Buffalo Bills in their final game. Those blunders were a microcosm of how much the team struggled in that area.

Achord seems pleased that Judge will be helping him on the special teams unit, as transcribed by NESN.com’s Dakota Randall.

“I have to give credit for when I first got into the league,” said Achord. “Joe Judge brought me in. I learned under coach and learned so much from him. Obviously, he’s a great coach, so any time you can add more coaches to help you, influence you and work together, it’s only going to make you better.

“The better coaches you have, the better coach you are. If it’s one of us, two of us, three of us, four of us — Troy is working with returners. The more good coaches you have in the kicking game, the better you’re going to be.”

The proof is in the pudding, but the Patriots should be able to get back on track on special teams. They’ll have to if they want to have success in 2023.

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What to make of four Patriots coaches sent to NFL Scouting Combine

The Patriots sent four coaches to the NFL Scouting Combine this year.

The New England Patriots sent four members of their coaching staff to the NFL combine this week.

Wide receivers coach Troy Brown, corners coach Mike Pellegrino, special teams coordinator Cam Achord, and special teams assistant Joe Houston were all traveling down for the combine, per the Boston Herald’s Andrew Callahan.

This is a slight change from last year, as New England kept their offensive assistants in New England, and did not send them down. The organization has been busy with offseason work, as several members of the coaching staff worked the East-West Shrine Bowl. Bill Belichick headlined a group that included defensive line coach DeMarcus Covington.

This is certainly an interesting tidbit of news, given that these coaches will probably work closely with New England’s draft picks. It is worth noting that director of player personnel Matt Groh also made the trip. The latter has seen an increase in duties this off-season, including signing Matthew Slater’s contract.

It will be intriguing to see what tidbits come out from the Combine, as this coaching staff gets ready to prep for the draft. It appears as though they have several bases covered positionally, in what could be a crucial draft for a team looking to take the next step.

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Patriots coaching staff selected to coach 2023 East-West Shrine Bowl

The Patriots and Falcons’ coaching staffs will be working the 2023 East-West Shrine Bowl.

The New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons’ coaching staffs have been chosen to work the upcoming 2023 East-West Shrine Bowl game on February 2.

It will be a game featuring the top senior collegiate football players across the country playing in front of NFL scouts. To put this opportunity into perspective, the Patriots drafted Tyquan Thornton, Sam Roberts, Pierre Strong Jr. and Jack Jones after all four played in the 2022 East-West game.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Patriots and Falcons were chosen to work the game because they were the best fit to the criteria as the only non-playoff teams without head coaching or coordinator changes.

The irony behind all of this is the fact that coaching was at the center of New England’s problems throughout the 2022 season, particularly on offense and special teams.

But any opportunity for young players to pick the massive football brain of coach Bill Belichick could be considered invaluable.

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The Morning After: Patriots’ postseason bid comes up short

The offense was clicking, but it was too little, too late for the Patriots in Sunday’s 35-23 loss to the Bills.

The New England Patriots have finished the year 8-9 and have missed the playoffs for the second time in three seasons. They fought hard but ultimately fell short in a 35-23 loss against the 13-3 Buffalo Bills, who clinched the No. 2 seed in the AFC with the win.

The Patriots still had a chance to make the playoffs with a loss, but they needed the Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins to lose as well. However, both teams pulled out Week 18 victories, which helped the Dolphins clinch the final wild card spot in the AFC.

New England has had an up and down season led by their elite defense that showed how good they can be on Sunday by forcing three turnovers by the Bills.

What ultimately went against the Patriots’ efforts was not one, but two kickoffs returned for touchdowns by Bills return man Nyheim Hines, including one on the very first play of the game. The Patriots special teams were horrid all game, even outside of the returns, and ultimately cost the team a victory on a day when the defense and offense both played well.

This season came to a frustrating end, as there was hardly a single game where all three facets—offense, defense, and special teams—played like a cohesive football team for the Patriots. If anything, that speaks volumes to the level of engagement the players have and the level of coaching we have seen.

Let’s get into the leftover notes from Sunday’s game.