The Patriots are a team known for making sure they keep their internal secrets and gameplans in-house, giving as little as possible to their opposition, and that’s why offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is concerned about playing games in empty arenas.
Players aren’t thrilled about playing without fans because of the lack of crowd noise, which could cause issues for motivation and intensity. It also will likely help offenses for visiting teams, as communication via their headsets will be easier to hear, helping quarterbacks relay the playcalls from their coaching staff.
But McDaniels recently made light of another issue — coachspeak. He recently came out and said he’s worried about giving away too much information to opposing teams, due to the lack of crowd noise.
“If it’s quieter, I think there’s some things you probably have to protect,” McDaniels said, via NBC Sports Boston. “You can’t change your language. It’s like, if we know English, we can’t teach them Spanish before Week 1.
“I think you probably will self-scout yourself a little bit more with the television copy (of the game film), because they have the mics all over the place. So, you have to be careful (about) how much of what you’re saying is easily detectable. I think it’s more about protecting yourself and not giving everything away week after week.”
That’s a good point we haven’t heard discussed as of yet, and we’re sure other teams are keeping it in mind as well.
