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Josh McDaniels obviously accomplished incredible feats with the New England. He steered the scoring operation as the offensive coordinator of three Super Bowl-winning teams and the 2007 16-0 Patriots squad that set a then-record with 538 points.
Those season rightfully define McDaniels’ legacy as a play-caller and shine off the smudges of failed head-coaching efforts with the Denver Broncos and the Las Vegas Raiders. His return to his rightful job in New England comes with optimism. There are areas of concern, sure, but the idea that he’s simply another product who only performed with Tom Brady isn’t as simple as that.
Brady departed, as everyone knows, for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after the 2019 campaign. McDaniels stayed with the Patriots for two more seasons with Cam Newton and Mac Jones as his quarterbacks. Those weren’t exactly the golden years for the Patriots with a combined 17-16 across 2021 and 2021 with a playoff berth in the latter season. New England was far from a juggernaut but what McDaniels created with limited resources shouldn’t be glanced over.
Newton looked sharp prior to a positive COVID test before Week 4 of the 2020 season. He became a largely ineffective passer, which further limited New England’s offense that lacked talented playmakers, which still remains the case to an extent. However, McDaniels found one area of success that year and built around it: running the football.
Newton earned designed carries while second-year running back Damien Harris came on strong in the second half. The Patriots finished that disappointing 7-9 season with the fourth-best rushing attack (146.6 yards per game) in the NFL.
The group had a different look with free-agent receivers and tight ends surrounding the rookie quarterback in Jones in 2021. McDaniels kept the Alabama product in position to succeed, which he largely did for the first three months of the season. The Patriots won 10 games and Jones tossed 22 touchdowns as the runner-up for Offensive Rookie of the Year. New England sported the sixth-best scoring offense in the league (27.2 points per game) before their demoralizing playoff demolition at the hands of the Buffalo Bills.
Newton and Jones crumbled after their seasons with McDaniels, as did the Patriots for the last three years. Again, they weren’t banner years by any means in 2020 and 2021. But McDaniels proved he can put together serviceable production with lesser talent. He’s got an elite young quarterback to work with in Drake Maye this time around. Now, it’s up to the Patriots to surround him with real skill-players as New England hopes to speed up the path to ending the postseason drought.
