Matt Patricia Discusses the Progress Made by Patriots Offensive Line in Training Camp

The first hints that the Patriots might transition to a more zone-heavy running game came back in April.

With athleticism along the offensive line and speed at running back a necessity for the outside zone system, the Patriots selected guard Cole Strange and running back Pierre Strong with two of their first five draft selections. Plus, second-round pick Tyquan Thornton played under outside zone guru Jeff Grimes at Baylor.

Although Director of Player Personnel Matt Groh downplayed the connection, the numbers from the preseason suggest that the team is emphasizing the zone running game more this season.

“I’d like to think that if the player is good enough, we’re going to find a way to use the player no matter what the scheme is,” Groh told reporters on Monday morning. “Do some players do some things that are more accustomed to a run game in college or a run game from a previous team, to what they may have to do here? Yeah, but if they’ve got the skill set to learn how to do those things, then a lot of those things are able to transfer from one scheme to another.”

In New England’s three preseason games, 46 percent of their rushing attempts were zone schemes, meaning they still ran more gap schemes than zone plays. However, that’s a significant increase from 21 percent zone schemes during the 2021 regular season, according to Pro Football Focus.

As with any schematic change, it takes time to implement something new, especially a rhythmic play like outside zone, where timing and continuity are critical to its success.

But the outside zone shift is still a work in progress for the Pats offensive line. In four outside zone rush attempts for the starting offensive line against the Raiders in the preseason finale, the Patriots managed just one yard with a four-yard loss and an offensive holding penalty.

One of the mantras the Patriots offensive line lives by is seeing the game through the same set of eyes, with most of the struggles being assignment based rather than technique…