PatsPropaganda

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Patriots to face Broncos in AFC Divisional game

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Tim Tebow and the Broncos pulled off an overtime upset of the Steelers and will now travel to New England on a quick turnaround for a Saturday night tilt.

The most obvious storyline is that Josh McDaniels will now face the quarterback he drafted just two short seasons ago. Having McDaniels in the fold this time around should give the Patriots a little more insight into their personnel, but I don’t think it provides any overwhelming new advantage.

The Pats saw the Broncos firsthand and know what they can do, while also having a sense of how they might attack the Patriots defense. The systems and philosophies have changed since McDaniels was there, but he does know Tebow and a lot of the young personnel there. That can help, but as always it will come down to execution.

Defensively, the first question that comes to mind is do the Patriots open in the 3-4 defense that helped them shut down the Broncos after they were getting gashed early. Or will they go with the heavy four man front we’ve seen since Andre Carter went down in Ellis-Wilfork-Love-Deaderick.

Having Brandon Spikes and Patrick Chung back in the mix this time should be biggest new advantage that either team has, and with McDaniels’ new input the Pats should be strong favorites to end their playoff win drought.

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The Patriots haven’t even ended their season yet and they’ve already had a better off-season than the Jets.

https://www.patspropaganda.com/the-patriots-havent-even-ended-their-season-yet/

Should Patriots bring back Josh McDaniels?

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Reports from yesterday indicate that the Pats are seeking permission to speak with Josh McDaniels about potentially replacing Bill O’Brien, who accepted the head coaching gig at Penn State.

I’m not one of those romantic Patriot fans who long for all their former players and coaches to return for nostalgia’s sake, but I think the move to bring McDaniels back would be an intriguing one.

In Michael Holley’s book War Room he touches upon McDaniels’ creative offensive innovations after the Pats acquired Moss, Welker and Stallworth in 2007. I can only imagine the kind of things McDaniels would do with Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez.

The other factor that could make this a tempting move is Brandon Lloyd. Lloyd recently expressed his loyalty to McDaniels:

“I’m tied to McDaniels. He uses me differently than other offensive coordinators used me in my entire career. He uses me as an every-play receiver. The short game, mid-range game, gimmick passes, deep balls.

"I do everything in this offense as opposed to other coordinators who would just run me off as the deep guy; run me off into double coverage and then say I’m not open. So I really like how Josh uses me within the offense. I’m extremely comfortable in the offense.

Despite some erratic off-the-field behavior early in is career, Lloyd is exactly the kind of player the Patriots offense lacks. He knows the offense, and has the speed to be the proverbial "deep threat”. 

The potential addition of McDaniels and Lloyd would make the 2012 Patriots offense even more deadly that it’s been the last two years. If you thought Gronk and Hernando were dominant when defenses didn’t have to truly concern themselves with defending the deep part of the field, they’d be completely unstoppable with someone like Lloyd in the fold.

I’d be all for a reunion with McDaniels whether it included Lloyd or not. McDaniels’ creativity would add an entirely new twist to the Patriots offense that would give opposing defensive coordinators nightmares all off-season.

I don’t think it’s a slam dunk by any means for him to return though. Would he want to come back to Foxboro to finish what they started in what some would surely paint as a step backwards for McDaniels’ career? It’s clear that Bill Belichick has remained close with McDaniels, and I’m sure Tom Brady would love to have him, but there will be many factors and other suitors that will play into it.

Hopefully we won’t be talking about it again until February.