There were times throughout this season that the New England Patriots‘ defense struggled to stop the opposition from scoring on the opening drive. It had allowed six opening-drive touchdowns and nine scores on the first possession through 12 games.
On multiple occasions, in order to rectify the problem, Pats coach Mike Vrabel called upon his senior defensive assistant to prepare a mock opening-drive script as if he were calling plays for that week’s opponent.
That secret defensive weapon: Ben McAdoo.
The former New York Giants head coach is working on the defensive side of the ball these days for the Patriots after spending almost his entire career on offense. With McAdoo’s help, the Patriots have allowed just one opening-drive score in their past eight games, including none in three playoff games on their way to Super Bowl LX, where the Patriots will play the Seattle Seahawks at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday (6:30 p.m. ET, NBC).
“I’m always there to help,” McAdoo told ESPN of his role this season.
This is McAdoo’s resurrection story. He is now in his second season in New England. The previous year, he was a senior offensive assistant with some personnel responsibilities when the Patriots drafted and developed quarterback Drake Maye, who quickly blossomed into an MVP candidate in Year 2.
McAdoo was offered a job similar to the one Vrabel held last season as a coaching and personnel consultant for the Cleveland Browns.
McAdoo said he was “flattered” by the offer, even though they didn’t have much of a preexisting relationship. It didn’t matter if it was offense or defense, especially since he worked some on the defensive side with Dan Quinn during his one season in Dallas in 2021.
“My philosophy is you show me film of alligator wrestling, and I can coach it,” McAdoo said.
Some in the organization call McAdoo “Slick Back Ben” because of the slicked-back do he adopted a decade ago when he was with the Giants.
His responsibilities as senior defensive assistant with the Patriots include preparing for the next opponent a week in advance. McAdoo said he preps the coaches on the Monday of game week, breaks down the opponent’s offensive line protections and presents it all to the defense during a Wednesday defensive meeting that he almost always begins with a joke. He covers everything from the techniques and fundamentals the next opponent employs to personnel and how the team likes to use each player.
McAdoo even gets into the strengths and weaknesses of the individual opponents, specifically the quarterback. He details how the Patriots might take advantage of that week’s signal-caller, and take the ball away, and how the QB likes to play, all the way down to the cadence at the line of scrimmage.
“Slick Back Mac has done a fantastic job with our defensive coaches. He kind of filled the role that I did last year in Cleveland,” Vrabel said. “He’s an offensive-minded coach and he met with me and said, ‘Just tell me I’m an assistant coach. I want to be here and I’ll do whatever you ask me to do.’ And I appreciate that every second he said it.
“He’s embraced that role and helped the defense. They have a great relationship. He does a great pre-advance. He is ready to go to give [defensive playcaller] Zak [Kuhr], [defensive coordinator] Terrell [Williams] and all the defensive coaches. Handles the show team, does a quarterback report and I think our players and our coaches have really appreciated the perspective that he’s brough from an offense and translated it into defense.”
It’s not uncommon for coaches to stand in front of the room and break down the defense on the following week’s opponent. But starting safety Jaylinn Hawkins conceded it is unusual for it to come from a coach with an offensive background.
McAdoo has been a pleasant surprise, especially this iteration.
“That’s somebody I lean on, especially throughout the workweek. Ever since camp actually,” Hawkins said. “Man, he’s been feeding me, giving me the inside on offenses, how they operate, different quarterbacks. I’ve always went to him. Obviously our coaches are great and they help us out, but somebody like him who’s been a previous offensive coordinator for such a long time and has coached on the other side of the ball, I always try to get inside wisdom from him. He just helps me out for sure.”
It wasn’t always a certainty that McAdoo would end up in an important role for another Super Bowl team. It has been a long time since he has won a championship — 15 years, in fact, since Super Bowl XLV, in which McAdoo aided in the development of a young Aaron Rodgers with the Green Bay Packers.
McAdoo was then hired in 2014 by Tom Coughlin and the Giants to be their offensive coordinator, and after two successful years in the position, he became the head coach. In 2016, his first season in charge of the Giants, the team went 11-5 and lost to the Packers in the “boat trip” playoff game. The season didn’t go his way in 2017: Multiple players were suspended, QB Eli Manning was benched, and Giants ownership fired general manager Jerry Reese and McAdoo before the end of his second year.
Somehow, despite having 13 successful seasons as an NFL coach on his résumé, McAdoo became a football pariah, spending two years out of the league.
Not that he was paying too much attention to how he was being portrayed publicly.
“I certainly don’t want to be listening to a bunch of people who have a bunch of opinions on a lot of different things. You got to be careful what you read, you are what you consume,” McAdoo said. “And I certainly don’t want to look at myself like a bozo, so why would I want to read people writing about that kind of stuff?”
In those two football-less years, McAdoo spent his time reading and writing, going over everything he had done previously and chronicling how it looked, how it was supposed to look and where it went right and wrong — a thorough self-evaluation.
He was able to focus on his health and family. It’s what he saw as the biggest benefit: the ability to spend more time with his wife and two children. Eventually he went on to work one-year stints with the Jaguars, Cowboys and Panthers beginning in 2020.
Though McAdoo never questioned whether he would get back into football, it took a while to finally feel at home. That is what New England has become, thanks to Vrabel.
“I learned a lot from him. I’m very grateful for the opportunity,” McAdoo said. “He runs a buttoned-up program, he holds people accountable. He is demanding but he’s got a big heart as well and it’s been really interesting to see. And it’s been really good for me.”
What’s next for McAdoo is unknown. Perhaps there is a world in which he can get back to coaching quarterbacks or calling offensive plays. He still has notebooks of his own critiques just in case. Or perhaps he remains a not-so-secret weapon on defense.
“Slick Back Ben” seems happier and more content in New England than he has in years. He appears more comfortable in his own skin than ever, smiling and cracking the kind of self-deprecating jokes that were rarely seen during his time in New York or right after.
McAdoo is taking it all one day at a time.
One of his go-to lines is “travel light.” Add it to the McAdictionary.
“We’re not going to look too far ahead,” he said. “We’re going to handle business here and see where it goes. Try to be the best husband and best father I can be and try to help people as best I can. And we will just take it day by day. Don’t ever look too far ahead, and travel light.”
This new Ben McAdoo is going to the big game as an under-the-radar defensive asset.
