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Patriots offensive play caller Matt Patricia is known to be on the defensive side of the ball, but it wouldn’t be a mystery to Cardinals defensive coordinator Vance Joseph if he were to fly blindly into Monday night’s game.
Joseph has been studying the Patriots offense as he prepares his unit for the Week 14 matchup. He told reporters Thursday he can see Patricia’s story in the kind of games that get called up because that’s the way defensive-minded coaches approach the game.
“I see an offensive that makes football go well. It’s a very conservative passing game – lots of screens, all kinds of screens. That’s what a defender would call offensive plays — ‘Let’s not flip the ball, let’s get 4 yards a play, and let’s try to burn the clock,'” Joseph said of ESPN.com’s Mike Reiss. “That’s what they’re doing and that’s what he’s going to do on Monday night. He will be patient. Maybe sniff every now and then. But for the most part it’s a running game, it’s a fast paced game and it’s screens.
Patriots quarterback Mac Jones wasn’t thrilled with the fast play the last time the Patriots took the field, so we’ll see if the Patriots try something different to throw Joseph and the Cardinals off Monday night.