Last week, new broke that Vikings wide receiver coach Keenan McCardell had been asked to interview for the New England Patriots offensive coordinator position. After Josh McDaniels left the Patriots after the 2021 season to take over as the Las Vegas Raiders head coach, New England never truly replaced him at OC.
Instead, it was offensive line coach Matt Patricia calling plays for the offense for the first time in his coaching career. It went about as poorly as it sounds as the Patriots ranked among the bottom half of the NFL in points scored, total yards, yards per play, and first downs.