Vance Joseph made some comments on Matt Patricia and his play calling before the Patriots matchup vs. the Cardinals. Matt addresses the conversation the two of them had postgame on Monday Night.
Believe it or not, the most notable interaction after the New England Patriots' win over the Arizona Cardinals on Monday night may have been Matt Patricia's handshake with Vance Joseph.
The Cardinals defensive coordinator made headlines earlier this week for seemingly calling out Patricia's offensive play-calling, noting that New England's approach is "like a defensive guy is calling offense."
One could view that as a dig at Patricia, who is in his first year ever calling offensive plays and spent six seasons as the Patriots' defensive coordinator from 2012 to 2017. Joseph seemingly was aware of how his comments could be perceived and made a point to seek out Patricia after Monday night's game.
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Perry: Patricia, Pats offense did little to prove Vance Joseph wrong
Patricia insisted he didn't take offense to Joseph's remarks.
"I've known Vance a long time. Very competitive guy and has been in the league a long time," Patricia told reporters in a virtual press conference. "Vance is great, and he was coming up to make sure I knew everything was great.
"I think all that got kind of maybe pushed out of perspective a bit. So, all good."
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Patricia didn't exactly stick it to Joseph with his game plan Monday night, either. The Patriots ran a whopping 12 screen passes -- the second-most in a game this season -- as part of a conservative offensive attack that seemed more focused on avoiding serious mistakes than pushing the ball down the field.
The product wasn't pretty -- New England went 3 for 11 on third down and scored just 20 offensive points against the worst defense in football -- but Patricia's offense didn't have to do much in a 27-13 victory that saw Arizona lose star quarterback Kyler Murray on the third snap of the game.
It appears there's no ill will between Patricia and Joseph, but Patricia still has plenty of work to do if he wants to silence critics of the Patriots' mediocre offensive attack.