Josh McDaniels: Tom Brady had ‘pages-long’ strategy notes before Patriots games

Plenty of coaches spent time around three-time NFL MVP Tom Brady across his 20 seasons with the New England Patriots, but few were around the future Hall of Fame quarterback more than Josh McDaniels, who was the team’s offensive coordinator in 11 of Brady’s 20 seasons with the team.

The former Patriots offensive playcaller discussed what his day-to-day relationship with Brady, now the lead NFL analyst for FOX Sports, was like on Wednesday’s edition of “The Herd.”

“The more Tom played, the more he understood what he liked and what he didn’t like,” McDaniels said. “It certainly became a huge back-and-forth for us. I have emails that are pages and pages long of things that he liked and things that he didn’t like.

“I think that’s what you have to do nowadays is when the quarterback has thoughts and opinions and ideas of what he feels good about, you certainly have to take all that in, and then try to figure out exactly what’s the right blend of things that fit that week against that team. And Tommy was not shy about giving input on those kinds of things, and he earned every bit of it. We usually would be emailing on Monday, Tuesday, and then, obviously, we’d practice Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and try to nail it down. But we were emailing on Friday night and Saturday morning, as well, to try to finalize the game plan.”

While that’s hardly the norm in the NFL, McDaniels said certain quarterbacks have earned the right to have an active role in strategy, and the former Denver Broncos and Las Vegas Raiders head coach includes several current quarterbacks in that tier.

“I just think that when you have a guy like him [Brady], Pat Mahomes, [Josh] Allen, Lamar [Jackson], these guys that have certainly had a tremendous amount of individual success, team success, they’ve earned the right to give you their input, and you need to take that input in and try to figure out how to utilize it the best way.”

Josh McDaniels on coaching Tom Brady in New England

McDaniels had two stints as New England’s offensive coordinator (2006-08 and 2012-21), which came after serving as an offensive assistant for five seasons (2001-05).

Arguably the best season of Brady’s 23-year NFL career came in 2007 with McDaniels as offensive coordinator. In said season, Brady threw for an NFL-best 4,806 yards and 50 touchdowns and posted a league-best 117.2 passer rating and 68.9% completion percentage, helping the Patriots go a perfect 16-0 in the regular season before losing to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII. That New England team is still considered among the best in NFL history.

In total, Brady led the NFL in passing yards three times (2005, 2007 and 2017) and passing touchdowns twice (2007 and 2015) with McDaniels as either his offensive coordinator or quarterbacks coach. The Patriots finished in the top 10 in scoring in every season where Brady was under center and McDaniels was his offensive coordinator.

[Check out our hub for all things Tom Brady here!]

New England also won four of its six Super Bowls with McDaniels as either quarterbacks coach or offensive coordinator (2004, 2014, 2016 and 2018).

After an underwhelming first season without Brady — who signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers following the 2019 season and helped them win the Super Bowl the ensuing season — which saw the Patriots finish 27th in total yards (327.3) and points (20.4), McDaniels’ unit rebounded in the 2021 regular season, finishing sixth in scoring (27.2 points per game) with rookie quarterback Mac Jones and earned an AFC wild-card berth.

McDaniels was the head coach of the Denver Broncos from 2009-10, and most recently was the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders from 2022-23. He was fired during the second season of both head-coaching stints, going 11-17 with the Broncos and a 9-16 with the Raiders; McDaniels isn’t on an NFL coaching staff this season. He was also the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the St. Louis Rams in 2011 before rejoining longtime coach Bill Belichick’s coaching staff with the Patriots in 2012.

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