After months of build-up, the head coach Jerod Mayo era officially begins against the Bengals in Sunday's regular-season opener in Cincinnati.

Typically, the NFL's opening week can be fluky. With so much coaching and personnel turnover each year, there's often a feeling out process, giving teams like the Patriots with new coaching staffs an advantage in the season's early stages. Oftentimes, that can lead to surprising results.

These coaches aren't new to the NFL, but there's uncertainty regarding how the Patriots plan to win games this season. How will offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt design the offense and call plays? Will the defense be different with Mayo and defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington? Nobody knows how the Pats will look schematically, but Mayo said the staff have an ongoing dialogue about the team's identity.

"We meet with the coordinators three, four times a week. So, we're on the same page on, 'This is what we want to be,'" Mayo said this week. "If we don't create our identity, then someone else will create it for us. We have those conversations all the time."

Although teams will be in a trial phase in the first few weeks, New England is in a unique situation offensively in Week 1. Most recently, Van Pelt and many of the Patriots offensive staffers were with the Cleveland Browns, an AFC North rival of the Bengals. During his run as the Browns OC, Van Pelt's offenses averaged 26.8 points with a 6-2 record vs. Cincinnati (5-1 vs. Burrow). Given the Bengals recent postseason success, you might've thought it would be the other way around.

Instead, Cleveland has been a thorn in the Bengals side, like the Dolphins to the dynasty-era Patriots. Although they're not in the division, this matchup offensively is also similar to how New England has a blueprint to beat the Steelers. Even in the post-Brady era, the Matt Patricia offense and a Bailey Zappe-led unit got the better of Pittsburgh. Why? Well, some coaches have the answers to the test against certain opponents.

To add another layer, starting QB Jacoby Brissett beat the Bengals with the Browns in 2022. Brissett led the Browns to a 32-13 victory over Cincy, with the Pats QB1 throwing for 278 yards with two total touchdowns. Do you want one more trend that says the Patriots have a chance? The Bengals in the Burrow era are slow starters. Burrow is just 1-3 in season-openers, and the Bengals are 6-7-1 in September games since 2020.

"More so for, I guess, the defense more than anything, not to watch myself. But understanding a lot of the things that we tried to attack," Brissett told Patriots.com about revisiting his win over the Bengals in 2022. "I watched the game later in the year when we played them the second time – when Deshaun [Watson] was playing –and how they corrected a lot of those things, that kind of chess match."

"They've obviously figured out a lot of the stuff we're trying to do. So, dating back to the year I was there, I watched those two games and then last year's game a couple times just to kind of get in the mindset of how this offense attacks Lou [Anarumo] and how Lou attacks this offense."

We are saying that there's a chance for the Patriots, who are 7.5-point underdogs, to give the Bengals a game on Sunday. Taking a look back at the Brissett-Van Pelt pairing's win over the Bengals two seasons ago, here's how the Browns offense was successful that day:

Before we get into the film, Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo is a future head coach in the NFL. Anarumo is a master of disguise, bringing pressure from unexpected places and changing the coverage shell after the snap. Anarumo's coaching chops might've contributed to the Pats waiting to insert rookie QB Drake Maye into the lineup.

In 2022, the Browns stunned the Bengals with an efficient offensive performance. In the box score, the big takeaway was that Cleveland ran the ball 44 times for 173 yards and three touchdowns. However, the chess match between Stefanski and Van Pelt against Anarumo began in the passing game, where Brissett tore up Cincy's single-high man coverages.

With the Browns utilizing a sixth offensive lineman on 22 plays, the Bengals went with single-high safety coverages to slow down Browns RB Nick Chubb. Brissett used the extra time in the pocket and single coverage on the outside to hunt big plays. Brissett went 8-for-10 for 160 yards and a touchdown when the Bengals played man coverage, averaging 17.6 yards per pass attempt vs. single-high structures.

Cleveland also hit three explosives off play-action, with Brissett tallying 77 yards on three completions for a whopping 25.7 yards per attempt. Those play-action schemes were day-one install concepts for Van Pelt in Foxborough, so expect to see them on Sunday, especially given the success Brissett had with them against this defense two years ago.

Here, the Browns are running the same high-low crossing concept that QB Drake Maye hit wideout Ja'Lynn Polk for a 29-yard completion in the preseason finale. For Brissett, the tackle eligible comes in handy, with the Bengals bringing a corner blitz off the left side. With a six-man slide and the back taking the blitzer, Brissett has time to hit the wide-open shallow crosser for 13 yards.

In this play, the Browns run another AVP staple called knife with six plus the back in for extra protection. The two-receiver side has a "B-Line" crosser by the inside receiver and a "SHIN" route by the outside receiver (short in). Amari Cooper wins on the inside route, so Brissett hits him in stride for a chunk gain.

This time, the Browns are running a concept that the West Coast teams often call "strike-blaze out" with an eight-man protection scheme. With the safety in the middle of the field, Brissett throws the blaze out to Donovan Peoples-Jones for an explosive play.

With the then-Browns quarterback making the Bengals defense pay for playing single-high coverages, Cleveland began seeing more two-high shells, which is when Chubb went to work. If there's a weakness in the Bengals defense, it's against the run, where they ranked 28th in DVOA last season. During the offseason, the Bengals lost run-stuffer D.J. Reader to the Lions in free agency, taking a key piece out of an already weak run defense.

Returning to the matchup in 2022, the Browns majored in outside zone runs, as expected, with 15 zone runs to seven gap runs for Chubb. Above, the Bengals rotate the safety to the passing strength back at the snap, forming a two-high shell. The Browns have the perfect run call on with outside zone into the rotation, and Chubb gains 13 yards.

The Patriots new offensive coordinator is relatively unknown. Van Pelt has held the title before, but he has never coordinated an offense without an offensive-minded head coach and has never been the primary play-caller. Plus, it's fair to say the Browns were better equipped to move the ball than these Patriots. Cleveland had a much better offensive line, WR Amari Cooper, and Chubb to scheme stuff open for Brissett.

That said, Van Pelt has been in the same system for years and has faced this Bengals defense several times. From a schematic perspective, we know more about this matchup than a typical season-opener with a new coaching staff.

Van Pelt has a successful blueprint from his Browns days to get the better of the Bengals defense. As always, it'll come down to player execution.

Patriots Defense vs. Bengals Offense: Revisiting the Pats Matchup vs. Burrow in 2022

On the defensive side of the ball, the Patriots also have recent game film to pull from against the Bengals offense.

Over the last few seasons, Cincinnati has been one of the top offenses in the NFL, building it around LSU Tigers Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase, along with Tee Higgins. The Bengals run a spread offense. Last season, they were in the shotgun at the second-highest rate and a spread formation at the fifth-highest clip: it's three receivers, spread the field, and let Burrow cook. Who can blame them?

Now, two elements to this game could majorly shake things up from the last time around. First of all, Chase's status is up in the air. The star receiver has been around Bengals practice, but he has yet to officially end his hold in, which could drastically change the game plan.

The second element is New England's personnel changes since 2022. In that matchup, the Patriots three cornerbacks were all under 5-foot-9: Jonathan Jones, Marcus Jones, and Myles Bryant. As a result, the Pats played zone coverage on nearly 82% of the passing plays to avoid putting their smaller corners on islands with Chase and Higgins.

Due to their personnel, the Patriots went with a coverage game plan. They played 26 drop-backs in a cover-two zone structure, a NextGen Era high for a Belichick defense (since 2016), and only blitzed Burrow on 23.6% of his drop-backs. In short, their 2022 plan was to sit in soft zones and make the Bengals drive the field—it was bend, don't break.

After giving up 22 unanswered points in the first half, the Patriots defense shut the Bengals out after halftime. New England limited Cincinnati to three explosive plays, while Burrow's average air yards per pass attempt was a modest 7.1 yards. Yes, Burrow threw for 375 yards, but it was on 52 attempts (7.2 avg). The game plan's goal was to have sequences like the following one in the second half:

On first down, the Patriots rotated post-snap into a cover-two after showing a single-high structure before the snap. With the half-field safety over the top of Chase, Burrow stays patient and checks it down, gaining six yards on a completion to former Bengals RB Joe Mixon.

Six yards on first down might sound like a win for the offense because it is a successful play, but here were the next two plays: a three-yard run on second-and-four, a holding penalty on third-and-1, and a game-changing play on third-and-11.

With the Patriots bluffing cover zero earlier in the game, New England brings the house on a cover zero blitz, leading to an unblocked pressure by Kyle Dugger. The pressure leads to a poor throw from Burrow, and Marcus Jones returns an interception for a pick-six.

On the ensuing drive, the Patriots show cover zero again on third down. This time, Burrow checks into a perimeter screen to Chase, thinking he has the blitz beat. Instead, the Pats drop out into zone coverage, and Burrow has to nix the screen for another third-down win for the defense.

Lastly, when the Bengals got into the red zone, the Patriots also had some answers. Cincinnati scored two touchdowns in four red zone trips.

The Patriots had bracket calls to throw at Chase, Higgins, and slot receiver Tyler Boyd. Above, the Pats bracket Chase and Higgins, forcing Burrow to a one-on-one matchup with a flexed-out Mixon on LB Ja'Whaun Bentley, and Bentley breaks up the third-down pass to force a field goal.

Will the Patriots' defense be more aggressive this season under new defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington? Last time, the Pats had Matthew Judon and Christian Barmore in their four-man pass rush while they were short-handed at corner, leading to the coverage-heavy plan.

This week, the Patriots staff might believe the secondary is their strength defensively. Covington could look to scheme-up pressure while relying on Christian Gonzalez, Jon Jones, Kyle Dugger, Jabrill Peppers, and company to cover the backend. From this perspective, the defensive plan this season might resemble the 2018-19 teams more than some of the bend, so don't break Belichick defenses.

The Patriots have spoken about being more aggressive defensively under Covington and Mayo. However, based on their 2022 game plan, they might have too much respect for Burrow, Chase, and Higgins to go after Burrow on Sunday.

Key Matchups

CB Christian Gonzalez vs. Chase/Higgins

Depending on Chase's availability, we'll see who Gonzalez shadows or if he plays the right side of the defense because both receivers are elite. More importantly, Gonzo had an uneven camp. We know how talented he is, but the Pats need Gonzalez to flip the switch now that the games count. As for this week's matchup, if Chase is available, my guess is the Patriots will put Gonzalez on Higgins with extra attention on Chase.

LT Chuks Okorafor vs. EDGE Trey Hendrickson

We could've picked any matchup along the Patriots offensive line. It's the biggest question mark with the team heading into the season. That said, Hendrickson is a well-rounded edge rusher who tallied 17.5 sacks and 79 total pressures in a monster 2023 season. Hendrickson likes to rush over the left side of the O-Line, setting up a matchup with Okorafor on Sunday.

DL Keion White vs. LG Cordell Volson

White is the one potential game-wrecker on the defensive front for the Patriots, and my guess is they'll move him around to hunt matchups. The most favorable matchup for White is against Volson at left guard. The Pats could target Volson on third down with White or Daniel Ekuale.

DISCLAIMER: The views and thoughts expressed in this article are those of the writer and don't necessarily reflect those of the organization. Read Full Disclaimer