FOXBORO, Mass. — The New England Patriots haven’t seen a Bill Lazor-led offense, but they might have picked up some clues on what it might look like when they were practicing against the Philadelphia Eagles this summer.
Lazor, before being hired by the Miami Dolphins as offensive coordinator, was the Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback coach under Chip Kelly in 2013. Lazor is expected to bring many concepts that he learned in Philadelphia with him to the Dolphins. The Patriots start their 2014 season on Sunday against the Dolphins.
“Yeah, I think there will be some similarities,” safety Devin McCourty said Thursday at Gillette Stadium. “I guess we’ll really see how helpful it is when we’re out there on the field on Sunday. Some of the scheme stuff helps. When you have a coach that came directly from that system now as an offensive coordinator, I think of course it’s going to help a little bit. How much, we really don’t know. We know some things Philly did, we don’t know if Miami will do it. We’ll see on Sunday.”
The Patriots have had to study film of the 2013 Eagles, 2013 Dolphins and 2014 preseason Dolphins before their Week 1 matchup, but there are still plenty of unknowns as they enter the matchup. The 2013 Eagles didn’t have the same personnel, the 2013 Dolphins had a different scheme and teams don’t install a full system or game plan during the preseason.
What the Patriots can guess is that the Dolphins’ offense will be moving fast and up-tempo in the Miami heat.
“Miami always played fast,” cornerback Darrelle Revis said Thursday at Gillette Stadium. “They played fast in the past. The weather plays a part, as well. Playing down there in that hot weather. We’re aware. We’re aware of all the situations. We have a week to prepare to go through every scenario we can — player- and coach-wise — and just game plan as best we can.”
