Bill Belichick sees the same things everyone else does — and more — when he watches the New England Patriots’ offense.
Yes, it’s nice that the Patriots were able to score 30 points in their win over the Minnesota Vikings, but Tom Brady and the offense didn’t have much balance. Julian Edelman caught six of Brady’s 15 completions, giving him 12 of the 44 receptions by New England’s receiving corps through two games this season.
Belichick would prefer to see a little more variety.
“I think, offensively, we could certainly stand to get a lot more balance into our attack overall, period,” the Patriots coach said in his Tuesday conference call. “We didn’t have it in the run-pass ratio in Miami, and we didn’t really have enough of it in the passing game last week or really for Miami, for that matter.
“We have to do a better job of creating a little more balance on our team offensively with our personnel, our play calling, our plays and so forth. We have a lot of good players. We have to be more effective in utilizing all of them.”
Brady himself expressed displeasure with the offense’s performance Sunday, when he was just 15-of-22 passing for 149 yards and one touchdown. He has yet to connect with Brandon LaFell and has hooked up with Danny Amendola just three times.
Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said Brady still has time to develop a rapport with those receivers and others, but he doesn’t believe Brady is necessarily over-reliant on Edelman so far.
“There is always a place you start with your read, and sometimes if the guy happens to (be) open right away, you don’t need to go any further,” McDaniels said in a conference call. “We always try to be balanced and distribute the ball to all of our skill players. We feel like we have capable tight ends, capable receivers, capable backs, and it never is our intention to go into the game and throw the ball to just one or two guys in a particular situation.”
The Patriots should have another advantageous matchup, with the Oakland Raiders next on the schedule. Belichick and Co. definitely would prefer more variety in the offense, even if it might disappoint fans who have Edelman in their fantasy leagues.
Photo via Brace Hemmelgarn/USA TODAY Sports Images
