Why do the Patriots see him as a potential offensive coordinator?
In order to assess this question, we touched base with Josh Chatham of SB Nation’s Alabama blog,
Roll ‘Bama Roll. The answers below give some insight into O’Brien’s time at the school, and what it might mean for a potential return to the Patriots.
How would you assess the job O’Brien has done at Alabama? “For me, assessing any coordinator under Nick Saban comes with the caveat that Nick is a bit of a control freak where scheme is concerned. Mac Jones reportedly worked to get O’Brien up to speed on Alabama’s playbook when Bill first arrived in Tuscaloosa. That said, if I’m being frank the majority of Alabama fans want to see him gone.
While the offense has been outstanding the past couple years in terms of ranking, there has been a drop-off in production since 2020. O’Brien has coordinated the offense since then and thus tends to get an unfair share of the blame. Bill inherited an offensive unit that had lost nearly all of its receiving production from the transcendent 2020 squad, plus three starters off of one of the better offensive lines college football has seen in the last decade. There were some growing pains as a result, but it’s tough to argue with the 41 points per game we saw this season. Alabama fans are used to seeing the team at the top of the heap and can be notoriously hard to please.”
What did his offense at Alabama look like, and which elements could he bring to New England? “As mentioned above, every game plan runs through Saban. Nick prefers to take advantage of the college rules that allow downfield blocking on balls completed in the backfield, and allow ineligible players to wander three yards downfield on passes beyond the line of scrimmage, by utilizing a zone running scheme that allows for heavy RPO usage. Mac Jones and DeVonta Smith were utterly devastating on the RPO slant in 2020, and having Najee Harris as the run option in those RPOs didn’t hurt. With the emergence of Rhamondre Stevenson in the backfield, the Pats are only an elite WR way from having that kind of combination. RPOs aren’t quite as effective in the NFL thanks to the tighter rules, but we’ve seen teams executing them at that level.
“Interestingly, Saban mentioned that the RPO game wasn’t necessarily a strength of the 2021 team. Bryce Young is a smaller QB who doesn’t seem to see the slant all that well, but he’s phenomenal at extending plays and making highlight reel plays down the field. For that reason, we saw a few more slow developing passing concepts. Nick has said that he would like to get back to the RPO game next season. Of course, O’Briens roots are in the Erhardt-Perkins system, so I’d say he’s probably pretty versatile.”
O’Brien interviewed with the Patriots on Thursday.
www.patspulpit.com