Patriots Coaches: Too Many Cooks in Play-Calling Kitchen?

It seems the Pats are the only NFL team without an offensive coordinator. That is going to change ... right?

The New England Patriots, under coach Bill Belichick, have earned the right to assemble a staff and assign duties as they see fit.

But presently, it seems the Pats are the only NFL team without an offensive coordinator. That is going to change ... right?

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Belichick has said that top assistants Matt Patricia, Joe Judge, Nick Caley and  Troy Brown will all play meaningful roles in mentoring second-year QB Mac Jones and in guiding the Patriots offense.

But while "collaboration'' is a very real (and underrated and understated) fact of NFL coaching life, someone needs to be the play-caller. ...

Right?

ESPN is suggesting that the Patriots' efforts to replace Josh McDaniels (the offensive coordinator now the head coach in Denver) might come down to two guys.

"The voices of Matt Patricia and Joe Judge standing above everyone else. They are leading this offense,” Mike Reiss reports.

Neither Patricia or Judge had successful stints when they ventured away from New England to become head coaches. Patricia actually has a background as a defensive coordinator, and Judge's background is as a special-teams coach.

But it seems Patricia and Judge were overseeing the New England offense during recent offseason workouts, and Reiss suggests Patricia might be the favorite to be the team’s play-caller.

The idea of Belichick giving freedom to everyone on his staff to pitch in is a sound one; it's part of the reason he has developed so many assistants who have blossomed into head coaches (their sometimes-relative lack of success notwithstanding.) But once the in-game bullets are flying, there is little time for "collaboration'' and "consensus.'' Those are game-plan issues to be handled on Wednesday, not on Sunday.

On Sunday, Belichick needs an offensive play-caller. And it seems his choices have been pared to a pair.