Socci's Notebook: Patriots Prepared For Potential Departures Of McDaniels, Patricia
BOSTON (CBS) – A week before opening the postseason, the Patriots incurred their first loss of the offseason. On Friday the Detroit Lions tabbed New England's director of pro scouting Bob Quinn to become their next general manager.
Now Quinn, a 39-year-old career-long Patriot from Norwood must decide if the head coach he inherits in Detroit, Jim Caldwell, sticks around. If not, as many expect, then surely New England coordinators, Josh McDaniels and Matt Patricia, will immediately vault to the top of the presumed wish list for Quinn.
Whatever occurs in Detroit, the Patriots will undoubtedly be left with more positions to fill -- whether in the near or distant future. But whomever is next to go, be it someone in personnel or somebody on the coaching staff, the organization won't be left unprepared.
"It's certainly not unprecedented," Bill Belichick replied during Tuesday's media conference call, when asked if the team would get distracted from playoff preparations should its coordinators interview elsewhere this week.
"There are a lot of other teams in the league that are going through the same thing. We've gone through it before, so we'll just take it as it comes. We know what our goals are and what our focus is, and we'll take these other things as they come through. Like I said, I don't think it's anything that's that unprecedented."
Belichick's right, of course. Yes, other teams deal with similar scenarios every postseason. Just last year, for example, Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn departed Seattle for Atlanta. And no, accommodating interview requests and eventually filling vacancies is nothing out of the ordinary in New England.
So it goes when you've been so successful for so long in a so-called copycat league. Most memorably here in New England, Belichick engaged in a group hug with coordinators Romeo Crennel and Charlie Weis after winning Super Bowl XXXIX in Feb. 2005, before seeing them off to Cleveland and Notre Dame, respectively.
Over the ensuing decade, coordinators Eric Mangini (to the Jets), McDaniels (to Denver) and Bill O'Brien (to Penn State and eventually Houston) all moved on for head coaching opportunities elsewhere. Neither coincidentally nor accidentally, the Patriots maintained continuity in those times of volatility.
Though there have been interludes when Belichick did not anoint 'coordinators' by title, he long ago established an order of succession at One Patriot Place. McDaniels and Patricia each entered the organization as youngsters yet to hit their most formative years as coaches. Both were groomed in various roles before becoming play callers.
Even now, as they organize thoughts on other opportunities and formulate game plans for next Saturday, McDaniels and Patricia are likely working alongside their eventual successors.
Citing the offense specifically, it's this Patriot way of doing things that most impresses ex-quarterback and current CBS analyst Rich Gannon.
"I think it's hard to have consistency and stability in this profession, it's a very volatile profession," Gannon told me during last February's NFL Combine, while conversing in a foyer of Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. "The one thing (the Patriots) have done a great job of is they've created a lot of continuity and consistency around the quarterback. Players come and go, coaches come and go, but there's consistency around Tom Brady.
"The system has never changed. It's continued to evolve and grow and develop, but it's never changed. And to me, that's the brilliance of Bill Belichick. He's going to promote from within, because he's not going to bring in somebody from outside the building that doesn't know the players or system or organization, in terms of how they go about their business. They don't want the change around Tom Brady."
Compare this situation with that of a longtime AFC rival like Baltimore. Since the start of 2012, Brady's counterpart Joe Flacco has quarterbacked offenses coordinated by Cam Cameron, Caldwell, Gary Kubiak and Marc Trestman. Each is a veteran coach who joined John Harbaugh's staff with a philosophy distinct from his predecessor and/or successor.
As Gannon pointed out, New England's recent football history is more an evolution than revolution. And if either McDaniels or Patricia -- or both -- gets a head coaching offer from Quinn or anyone else, the Patriots won't be caught off guard.
Back in the preseason, Belichick was seemingly thinking ahead to this offseason when he had McDaniels and Patricia cede their in-game duties to fellow assistants Brian Daboll and Patrick Graham for the Sept. 4 encounter with the Giants. Daboll ran the offense, while Graham took over the defense.
It might simply be a matter of time -- it would certainly be the modus of Patriot operandi -- before they get the call to call plays again.
Bob Socci is the radio play-by-play voice of the New England Patriots. You can follow him on Twitter @BobSocci.
