Patriots way out, 49ers way in on offense.

The Patriots way is leaving along the Miami Dolphins along with Brian Flores, however what was established on defense is looking like it might stay.

Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator Josh Boyer, who also has ties to the Patriots, might stay at his position. There are some reports that Vic Fangio might be brought in to take that spot.

I have my own speculation that other defense coordinators who were up for head coaching positions that got passed over could also be in the mix. Most reports have Josh Boyer, along with most, if not all of his staff staying put.

The defense unit staying at the same strength should help the offense get back on track. New head coach Mike McDaniel is tasked with making that happen.

Here is a nice rundown from Ryan Smith of Pro Football Focus, in this thread on Twitter he shows some concepts of the 49ers, and some of the Miami Dolphins for comparison. If you don’t do Twitter I have a rudimentary explanation toward the end of this story.

On the surface it looks like the new head coach doesn’t have a lot of experience, but he has been with Kyle Shanahan the longest of all the assistants, and is said to be the most trusted.

Mike Shanahan was the start of this coaching tree, and Mike McDaniel was once a ball boy for him with the Denver Broncos. At that time, seemingly any running back used would have a thousand yard rushing season.

The carryover from that start is the zone blocking scheme on offense. We should be seeing that again, just like we did under former head coach Adam Gace. Remember those 200 yard rushing games with Jay Ajayi?

I would take the stability and consistency of thousand yard rushing seasons over that. One thing that Mike McDaniel will emphasize is blocking, particularly from the wide receivers. This is where Gace tried but failed.

Miami Dolphins receiver Albert Wilson while not having that great of a season, did excel at blocking. I would keep him around just for that reason, any success at receiving would be icing on the cake.

There is also some talk the offensive line might be able to do better with the zone blocking, which seems to come from scouting reports on about three of the starting linemen before they were drafted. I hope this happens, but I hold some doubts.

One other thing we might see like we did with Gace is the use of dual running backs. Only this time there will be much more scheming involved. Shifting, motion, pivot point, angles, and pulling of offensive lineman. Whereas Gace seemed to only use crossing, and he abandoned it much too soon.

When Adam Gace was hired I wrote that I wanted Mike Shanahan, and if anyone cares to scroll all the way back through all my stories you can look it up for yourself. To have the tail end of his coaching tree is pleasing to me.