I think that all three of the offensive coordinators have added their own twists on the offense, but each was largely reflective of the personnel that they had.
Weis’ version of the offense was very much the traditional Erhardt-Perkins, which relied on power backs like Antowan Smith and Corey Dillon and consistent and safe quarterback play.
As the league evolved, with the rules making it harder to cover receivers, eand Josh McDaniels became the OC they went to more spread concepts and the Pats passing game took off in 2007 and 2008 (even with Matt Cassel). In 2009 the Pats ran out of options around Moss and Welker. As Belichick said “you take away Moss deep, get up on Welker, and we’re done.”
So in 2010 we got Bill O’Brien and a return to more of the power football we saw with Weis, using Rob Gronkowski, Aaron Hernandez, and Wes Welker. Once it was clear Moss was no longer the threat he once was they brought back Deion Branch. Then you had four of the smartest weapons Brady has ever had, and the result was an MVP year for him.
They weren’t as explosive as 2007, but they were more surgical. Had their defense not been in year two of the rebuild they likely could’ve won a Super Bowl that year, or at least made it past the Jets.
They built on that in 2011, taking the precision to another level by amping up the no-huddle. And while Branch began to fade, Gronk and Hernandez began to shine, and they went back to the Super Bowl.
With McDaniels back in 2012 they tried to do even more of that, but they were unable to find another receiving threat to replace Branch and the injuries to Hernandez and Gronk added up.
Now the Pats are in a re-build on offense somewhat. They have these elements I’m sure they’d love to build on, like using Gronk’s versatility and the no-huddle, but for now they have to get the new WRs up to speed before they can really start to establish an identity.
For each offensive coordinator, the team has been as much influenced by the style of play in the NFL and their personnel. I think McDaniels especially is an innovator, but Weis and O’Brien both did a good job using what they had and putting together strong offenses.
It will be interesting to see what the 2013 team’s identity becomes, but it will take some time.