FOXBORO – Patriots’ receivers coach Chad O’Shea was speaking about Aaron Dobson on Monday when O’Shea said something that – on its face – could be taken as a bit of an insult.
“Aaron’s done really well in a lot of areas that are away from the football,” O’Shea declared.
There wasn’t a “and we’d like to keep him there…” punchline to O’Shea’s praise, though. Because, to him and the rest of the Patriots offensive coaches, it doesn’t matter if you are getting the ball or not, the assignments away from the ball are as important as the ones on it.
“Whether it’s blocking away or being in the right spot for the pass play to be able to function and work, there are things that have to be done,” said O’Shea. “He’s a guy that’s very smart and he’s got good familiarity with our offense.”
Spacing is one of the most critical aspects of the passing game. Routes have to be run at the correct depth, cuts made at the right time, effort-level has to remain high or things get gummed up. Such as? Such as the number of “rub” or “pick” routes teams are currently running. If the player executing the rub isn’t at the right depth or the receiver receiving the rub lets himself get jostled off line, the pick doesn’t come. Then guys try reach and get called for offensive pass interference or throws sail high or any number of ugly messes occur. Or if a player is supposed to run a “go” down the boundary to clear the mid-level sideline and he doesn’t sell his route or go hard, the defender in coverage on the “go” receiver can peel off and get involved in the underneath play.
The Patriots are extremely precise in what they ask of receivers. The system is time-tested. The quarterback’s been doing it for a decade-and-a-half. It’s as evolved as an offense can be.
“We always talk about everybody doing the right thing and if we don’t, the play’s not gonna work,” said O’Shea. “Targeted or not targeted, if you’re not doing the right thing, there’s a chance the play won’t be successful. A lot of people talk about catches as the only way to measure production, we measure production in terms of doing our jobs. If everybody does their jon within the pass play, it’s got a chance to be successful.”
The Patriots made post-snap route adjustments so there’s mental precision necessary in addition to the physical aspect of simply running the route. A receiver has to decide based on what a defender does whether he will alter his route. And if he does alter it, it better be based on something that Brady is also seeing the defender do.
“We always stress that we have to see it through the same set of eyes so we have to see the defensive coverage through the same set of eyes also,” said O’Shea. “We gotta be on the same page and we can’t be independent of each other. We all have to play team football. If one guy is running in and the other guy is running out, it’s an issue.”
There are a lot of people involved in coordinating an offense. Obviously, there are times Brady is going to have on-the-spot things he wants to tweak or communicate. I asked O’Shea how that works since there is also a “chain of command” through which things have to move.
“Tom’s a great communicator and he does a really good job of communicating both with the coaches and the players,” said O’Shea. “If he sees things or we have to make an adjustment he does just a great job of making sure everybody’s aware of how he sees it or how we might have to adjust. That’s one of tom’s best traits. His communication skills are excellent. The best part of his communication is that he understands it can’t be with one person but with all because we all have to be on the same page, all 11 people and the coaches.”
Changes, said O’Shea, have to be universally known.
“It’s important for everyone to know what’s expected of them on that play and not just the starters knowing but the guys in those backup spots,” he explained. “The guys who backup are critical. One of (recently acquired) Keshawn Martin’s roles was to make sure he was available to know all the spots. So he needs to be on the same page if something is adjusted or there’s some kind of communication thing.”