What Did Alex Van Pelt Show In His First Game As Patriots’ Play-Caller?
FOXBORO, Mass. -- Alex Van Pelt joined the Patriots this offseason with the responsibilities of getting a stagnant offense back on track and developing the franchise quarterback.
New England's preseason opener on Thursday night against the Carolina Panthers offered Van Pelt's first game action as a play-caller within the system at Gillette Stadium. The Patriots' offensive coordinator operated with reps for quarterbacks Jacoby Brissett, Drake Maye, Bailey Zappe and Joe Milton III.
After the offense ranked last in scoring last season, Brissett signed as the veteran starter with young weapons in Ja'Lynn Polk and Javon Baker. The Patriots also re-signed Hunter Henry and Kendrick Bourne while extending running back Rhamondre Stevenson.
Those moves still leave plenty of work ahead for Van Pelt in the earliest steps of an extensive rebuild for New England, particularly with an offensive overhaul.
During his last stop with the Cleveland Browns, Van Pelt's offense leaned on the success of the ground game with passing roots from the West Coast flavor.
Thursday night marked the first glimpse of Van Pelt's vision for the unit.
Here's what we learned from Van Pelt's first game scenario as the Patriots offensive coordinator:
FORMATIONS/PERSONNEL
In the first quarter, the Patriots mostly ran their offense out of 11 personnel with three wide receivers, a tight end and a running back. All three quarterbacks took reps lining up under center and out of the shotgun.
With Zappe in the game, Van Pelt called on bigger sets with two tight ends in 12 personnel. Van Pelt brought back mostly a three-receiver set with Milton running the show in the second half.
Around the quarterback, Gibson and Harris took the majority of the carries with Polk, Tyquan Thornton and Jalen Reagor getting the most early snaps along with veteran JuJu Smith-Schuster.
Javon Baker also saw reps on the night, primarily with Zappe and Milton III at quarterback.
PLAY-CALLING
With West Coast roots in his system, Van Pelt called for a series of outside runs and intermediate routes in the passing game. Brissett did float a deep ball that fell intended for Thornton, but that was after two progressions on short outside routes.
Van Pelt did dial up a handful of play-action looks, but a struggling offensive line left little time for routes to develop. Brissett had to escape the pocket and throw the ball away to close his opening drive. Two possessions later, Zappe floated a ball out of bounds with an intentional grounding penalty to follow. Zappe did look to play-action more during his time on the field.
Van Pelt did allow Zappe to push the ball downfield a bit more than the previous passers, though he missed one attempt well behind Baker. He did later set up a touchdown with a 28-yard catch-and-run for Kayshon Boutte to set up the game's first score.
RESULTS
It's the preseason, but we'll pay attention to the effectiveness of the Patriots' coordinator.
The Patriots' notable play from the first quarter came on Maye's first possession. On 3rd-and-12, Maye dumped a screen pass off to Antonio Gibson that moved the chains for a fresh said of downs. The Boutte reception certainly marked the highlight of the second quarter.
Otherwise, the run game produced minimal yardage following a solid start on Rhamondre Stevenson's opening 11-yard pickup. In that sense, worries about the offensive line continued.
New England did convert on their first-half red zone opportunity while going just 4-for-10 on third down in the opening two quarters.