After Week 1 of the season and the New England Patriots’ disappointing offensive performance against the Raiders, questions were raised about the relationship between Head Coach Mike Vrabel and Offensive Coordinator (OC) Josh McDaniels. The solid offensive performance and win against Miami have tamped down those concerns.

Earlier in the offseason, there was media speculation that McDaniels may not have been Vrabel’s first choice and may have been “suggested” to him by owner Robert Kraft, perhaps even as a condition of his hiring. While that latter thought was far-fetched with a guy like Vrabel, who had other options, Kraft’s possible involvement in the hiring process in favor of an old friend wasn’t.

In Week 2, in the win against the struggling Dolphins, an offense more tailored to Drake Maye’s skills was employed. It resulted in a brilliant performance by Maye and a sorely needed win. The Miami game demonstrated that things are progressing in the right direction offensively.

Josh McDaniels shuts down any lingering concerns about working with Mike Vrabel

During a recent appearance on WEEI, McDaniels was asked about his working relationship with Vrabel, as he has only worked for one head coach in his NFL career, Bill Belichick.

Some have speculated that things might become contentious between the two, especially if McDaniels still has aspirations to be a head coach. But the offensive coordinator shut down any possibility of there being a problem pretty swiftly with his response.

McDaniels said that it has been “great” working with his Head Coach, Vrabel. It seems things are going well, especially now that the team has racked up a win in Miami against an always tough at home Dolphins team.

Winning there is not a usual occurrence for the Patriots and wasn’t even with Brady at the helm. It was a signature first win for Vrabel, McDaniels, and the team.

Mike Vrabel will be looking to see an offense tailored more to Drake Maye’s skills

In Week 1, McDaniels ran a vanilla offense similar to the one he ran with Tom Brady in the 2000s. Maye is a different style quarterback than Brady, however, whose running skills, as well as his passing accuracy, can be taken advantage of in the right system.

Against Miami, McDaniels began to open things up more for Maye and utilize his mobility. These were evident in several roll-out plays and the use of more play-action. The results were positive. Maye deftly chose his spots to run and made good use of his mobility, including scoring a touchdown.

Hopefully, McDaniels will employ Maye’s running ability more now after the success in Miami. If he programs a run or two and utilizes an RPO scheme at times, he’ll have defenses guessing and off balance. That should help open things up more for the wide receivers whose performances thus far this season have been underwhelming.

The ensuing Patriots games will demonstrate how well the offense’s evolution in more fully employing Maye’s dual-threat capabilities to maximum effectiveness proceeds. The Miami game was a nice rebound from a far less-than-optimal offensive performance against the Raiders.

If things continue to evolve using Maye’s mobility as a central component of the overall offensive scheme, as the offensive line coalesces, the team’s offensive production should soar. The wherewithal to be a multi-faceted offense is there for the taking.

A good role model is the Buffalo Bills, who’ve done that brilliantly with their dual-threat star quarterback, Josh Allen. If the Patriots seek to emulate that, they might be right on the heels of the front-running Bills in the not-too-distant future.