Patriots’ Mac Jones says team trying to ‘figure out’ offensive identity: ‘We’re just trying to work through it all’
The Patriots’ offense underwent significant changes in the 2022 NFL offseason for the first time in nearly a decade. Josh McDaniels left to coach the Raiders, and Bill Belichick put together former defensive coordinator Matt Patricia and former special teams coordinator Joe Judge to lead the offense.
The results weren’t great.
New England’s offense has been inconsistent throughout training camp and the preseason. On Tuesday, the unit had a particularly poor showing in joint practice against McDaniels’ Raiders that saw many begin to hit the panic button.
MORE: Why the Patriots won’t name offensive coordinator for 2022
Mac Jones is not one of them. The sophomore quarterback explained during his weekly chat with WEEI’s Merloni, Fauria & Mego show that it only takes time for everything to fall into place on offense.
“I think we have really good players, really good players to put the ball around. But every system is different, right?” Jones said, according to The Boston Herald’s Karen Guregian. “So it’s a way of getting a sense of what you want to do, which is your mo as an insult. The most important thing right now is to find that out.”
Jones had his share of problems in practice on Tuesday. He passed 14 of 26 and was seen on the sidelines after throwing his lone interception.
Jayon Brown with his 2nd INT at Raiders training together against Mac Jones and puts a hit on the house!#RaiderNation pic.twitter.com/xMXfCO3XJX
— Raiders report Mitchell Renz (@MitchellRenz365) August 23, 2022
Still, he wouldn’t call that workout — or any other workout the Patriots had during training camp — a failure.
To fail is to put a label on something that is a process. We just try to focus on the process and not the result. Failure would be counted as a result. We’re just trying to work through it all. … We don’t need to complicate it. It’s an easy game if you make it an easy game. We’re all trying to get there, which doesn’t happen overnight.
It’s no surprise that the new scheme took a while to implement. Finally, the Patriots’ offensive coaching overhaul isn’t just limited to Patricia and Judge joining the unit. In New England, quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree, receivers coach Mick Lombardi and offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo also joined the Raiders, while longtime running backs coach Ivan Fears retired.
MORE: Why Bill Belichick, Patriots roll without OC or DC for first time since 2010
That means a lot of rework and new voices for every team to contend with; especially one starting a young quarterback like Jones.
Still, Jones doesn’t think it should take that long for the Patriots to find success on the new offense.
“For me, I’ve always prided myself on being a smart quarterback. I like to just operate on any offense we have,” he said. “There are a lot of different changes, but at the same time we have really good coaches who give insights that maybe we didn’t have before from a defensive point of view.”
How can the Patriots feel comfortable on this offense just weeks before the start of the regular season? Jones believes that everything depends on one thing.
It always goes back to the players, listening to the coaches and getting the scheme right. We have to do better.
MORE: Josh McDaniels explains why he failed as a coach at Broncos
Jones knows this process will contain some growing pains and some frustrating practices, but he also believes the Patriots will only improve as they become comfortable with the team’s new system.
“Sometimes I get really competitive on the practice field. And I want it to go better. But it’s more about the process, just seeing the movie and getting better with an offense still young.
“Sometimes you have to realize that’s who we are right now.”