Alex Barth joined Felger and Joe Murray on Wednesday to discuss the latest on the Patriots and had some thoughts on the Patriots offensive coaching staff.
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Thoughts on Adrian Klemm
Felger: Or maybe Adrian Klemm, as we heard from Bedard, not everyone’s very high on.
Joe Muray: So I think he was pretty good in Oregon.
Alex Barth: I do, too.
Felger: You know, I love how you guys can actually tell me that.
Joe Muray: Yeah. I mean, Bo Nix was at Auburn and was awful.
Alex Barth: He was written off.
Felger: WHO”S BO NIX?
Joe Muray: You don’t know who Bo Nix is?
Alex Barth: His dad played for Auburn, won a national championship there, like in the eighties. He gets recruited….
Joe Muray: He was going to be a top quarterback prospect next year.
Alex Barth: He was supposed to be the savior of that program.
Felger: You’re talking, Oregon?
Alex Barth: No, Auburn.
Joe Muray: He was at Auburn and then transferred to Oregon because of this portal thing.
Alex Barth: Right. He was totally written off at Auburn. Everybody was just done with him. He’s supposed to be a top quarterback recruit, all of that, gets written off at Auburn, goes to Oregon, and they turned him into a Heisman finalist. So and a lot of that was they were scheming stuff up. It was some of those new age schemes where you maximize what the quarterback can do, falling on the offensive line. They’re also one of the best running teams in the PAC-12. In the Nation. Klemm was the run game coordinator. This is the big thing for me, whether the guy has a history with Belichick or not, when McDaniels left and took everybody, there was no smooth transition. Even now, going from Patricia to O’Brien, it’s not exactly a smooth transition. Run game coordinator. Pass game coordinator. Essentially what that is, is assistant offensive coordinator. When Bill O’Brien leaves, because he’s probably looking for his next head coaching gig sooner rather than later, if you have Adrian Klemm, or Shawn Jefferson, or Keenan McCardell, or whoever as the run or pass game coordinator when Bill O’Brien leaves, “alright, that guy’s up”. It’s a very easy transition. I think that that’s the big one to me.
Oct 8, 2022; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Oregon Ducks associate head coach Adrian Klemm against the Arizona Wildcats at Arizona Stadium. Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Felger: I get it. Go, Joe.
Joe Muray: Oregon ranked 12th in rushing in the country. Alabama 30th. So I just again, I thought that Klemm did a great job.
Felger: And I obviously don’t know anything about this, but my guess would be that Oregon is running the ball with five receivers spread out all over across the field, the quarterback in the shotgun and the quarterback either running around all over the place himself with or them calling these RPO runs where you’re going against two defensive linemen and they’re gaining seven yards a carry because every game is 55-52.
Joe Muray: There’s no difference between what Alabama really runs, and Alabama’s a little bit more of a pro offense, but I’m just saying I think what Clem did in the rushing game can help debate.
Alex Barth: Oregon also went under center a lot more than they have in the past.
Felger: My crime syndicate thing is just based on the picture it looked like the FBI diagram of a crime family. But the more I think of it, it’s how they operate. You have to be able to be trusted. So every guy on this freakin staff is beholden to Bill. Still. Still and O’Brien I know is his own man and his own personality, and they desperately need that, but still if it’s Adrian Klemm well, it’s Bill, “I brought you into this league. I brought you in. Once you’re in the family, you can’t leave the family”. And it’s like this whole thing, it continues. You get someone from the outside with some kind of different idea or you know, it’s just all the same family. And that’s like, I don’t know. I don’t think it’s done them any favors.
Joe Muray: And how’s that work for Mac Jones?
Felger: Right, as we’ve gone on here, I don’t think it’s doing them any favors. So I wonder.
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