I could argue we have had vanilla gameplans because we didn't have the talent to have a different gameplan.
I also think McDermott gives his coordinators a lot of rope in how they run their respective groups. McDermott isn't trying to tell Daboll you need to do x,y, and z plays in x, y, and z situations. He has a general philosophy of how he want sot play and has surrounded himself with people who have a like mindset but lets those people do what they do, coordinate.
I completely disagree. I think what New England has achieved can totally be achieved to a much lesser degree, maybe only winning two or three Super Bowls in the same time frame, as long as you have a "good" quarterback and have a coach who has a plan and sticks to it. BB is more than willing to get rid of talented players who are headcases because those guys disrupt the culture. At the end of the day, its about 22 guys, 11 on offense and 11 one defense playing as one cohesive unit that is going to lead to success than having a couple of uber talented guys who disturb the culture. Pittsburgh is a perfect example.