SANTA CLARA, Calif. – So much of what the Patriots accomplished this season starts with the relationships that have been built, and not just this year. One of those relationships, and how it grew over time, allowed the team to undergo a significant change in season, and yet they managed to not only make it work, but thrive.
When Terrell Williams got hired by Mike Vrabel to be the Pats’ defensive coordinator, the move was lauded across the league. But the 51-year-old had to leave the team after the season opener when he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that was overtaking his body. While Williams is now cancer-free, up until this last week or so, he’s only been around the team infrequently.
But in his place as the interim coordinator is an underling who is far more than just a colleague of Williams.
“It’s been wild, man, not for the best reasons,” 37-year-old Zak Kuhr told me of his rapid ascent amidst difficult circumstances. “I wish it had not happened that way. And I’m happier, more than anybody, that he’s healthy right now, and he’s fighting through it.”
“He and the staff had to handle business,” Williams said. “They’ve done that. I’m looking forward to watching him call the game on Sunday.”
The two men don’t go back as far as say Vrabel and John “Stretch” Streicher, but when Vrabel hired Kuhr back in 2020 to be Williams’ assistant defensive line coach, they immediately built a bond that continued to thrive even after Kuhr moved to the linebacker room and then, with both in different locales last year (Williams in Detroit, Kuhr in NY with the Giants).
“I would still phone him once a week,” Kuhr said. “I just felt like we built a great relationship – a friendship – almost like a family relationship. But he was also a great person you could just close the door with and ask legitimate questions, whether it be for help or understanding: ‘Hey man, what would you do in this scenario? Or what do you think about this?’ He’s just a great sounding board.
“He’s been in this league for a long time. He’s a phenomenal teacher. He’s a great coach, and he really stands 10 toes down on what he believes. It’s kind of contagious with him. He makes you believe in yourself.”
“We’ve become great friends over the years,” Williams said. “It’s bigger than football, and that’s why I think we’re having success: it’s not just X’s and O’s; there’s a human element to it, and I think we’re doing a good job with that.”
Williams may not have been in the building all that often during the season – he would show up on certain Mondays and be a presence in the meeting rooms – he also didn’t want to overstep. While the title of defensive coordinator is still his, it wasn’t his job in the here and now. So he had to balance being helpful but not overstepping.
“I looked at all the tape, trust me,” Williams said to me. “And what I did, and I’ve always done, is just offer my opinion on things, but that’s all you can do, because you don’t want to jumble things up. And he’s (Kuhr) got his own personality, and he’s done an unbelievable job. I’m proud of him.”
When I informed Kuhr of Williams’ response, he laughed.
“I take that – as knowing T – is, ‘Hey, you guys have got a good thing going on, I’m here if you have questions. You saw something this way. Hey, I saw it this way.’ But he’s not just gonna come barging in, like, hey, this, this, this, this, and this,” Kuhr said. “He just – he believes in people, and he knows that’s one of the strongest things a coach or a person can do. The two things that motivate me the most are doubters and believers, and the way he believes in me and also is there for me drives me.”
Kuhr said he and Williams share a football philosophy, one that marries across the board in terms of schematics. Williams wants aggression, wants violence, wants to be the attacker, dictating terms to the offense, not the other way around. We saw that in his one game as coordinator, when the Pats blitzed Geno Smith 40% of the time. That number drew criticism at the time (who can forget Jaylinn Hawkins being isolated 1-on-1 with speedy slot receiver Tre Tucker).
Kuhr wasn’t nearly that aggressive during his first eight games as a play-caller, telling me that as a first-timer in this role, it was a learning process week-to-week – “a little bit trial by fire,” he said. Not only did he lean on Williams, but he also called Browns DC Jim Schwartz and Giants DC Shane Bowen (Vrabel’s DC over the second half of his Titans’ tenure) for advice.
As he learned his personnel, what worked and what didn’t, Kuhr has leaned more into that shared belief with Williams, and the Pats’ blitz rate has climbed like one of these ridiculous San Francisco hills. They jumped from 22% to 32% over the final 9 games of the regular season, then told that stretch to hold my beer (if you will), increasing to over 41% in the playoffs (tops in the postseason). Kuhr insisted to me that it’s been game-plan specific, but when you look at how Sam Darnold performs when under pressure, it’s hard not to think that Sunday’s game plan will revolve around blitzes and simulated pressure looks.
Darnold’s EPA per dropback when unpressured is the 8th-best in the NFL. When the heat is on (any Glenn Frey fans out there?), it plummets to 24th. Not only that, but the Seahawks QBs’ turnover-worthy plays skyrocket to 7% on dropbacks, the very worst in the league.
“Man, he’s been doing a great job,” Milton Williams offered. “Keeping us in tune, keeping us motivated, getting us ready during the week, diving into the tape, letting us know what we expect teams to do against us, but also being aggressive. Like, we’re not going to sit back and wait on nobody and try to see what they’re gonna do.”
“He trusts us when we’re out there,” Hawkins said, adding on the pressure packages, “Just make it work. Be disruptive. Help the guys on the back end. If it’s my turn to blitz, go; if not, cover. Just make it shake, man, create turnovers and make plays, especially when you get the opportunity to. He lets us do that.”
This defense has now flipped the script and has been a driving force in these postseason wins.
“Zak’s been unbelievable,” Terrell Williams said. “Zak’s an unbelievable coach and an unbelievable person. And trust me, when he took over, I knew that the defense was in great hands.”
Now, Kuhr has got to dial it up one more time this season. And when he does, he’ll be honoring his friend and mentor for taking the time not just to school a first-time NFL assistant back in 2020, but make him a part of his life and, as he said, family for years to come.
