FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Nothing to see here.
When it comes to Mac Jones and the Patriots offense, that was the message delivered Monday to the media types covering the team.
If the walls are crumbling around Jones or he’s developed happy feet, it’s news to the men in charge.
Listening to both Bill Belichick and Matt Patricia, there doesn’t seem to be too much concern over an offensive line that still doesn’t grasp the outside zone scheme. Or, a second-year quarterback who looks skittish in the pocket, and doesn’t appear to trust the offensive line. Aren’t they worried about Jones regressing in Year 2?
Judging by the responses, there’s little concern at this stage. Belichick thinks his quarterback is perfectly fine mentally and every other way.
“Mac’s had a great attitude every day,” Belichick said during his weekly appearance on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show. “Comes in early. He’s ready to work. … He’s one of our most consistent workers and prepares very well. I haven’t seen anything other than that.”
Guess he missed all the pacing on the sideline by Jones in Las Vegas. Guess he missed Jones tossing his play tablet after another three-and-out. Guess he missed Jones ripping off his arm band with the play calls, and chucking that.
Nothing to see here.
Or, Belichick just doesn’t think Jones’ tantrums are a big deal.
“When you come off the field, there’s always things you need to talk about or straighten out or fix. And there are things you’re going to feel good about,” he said. “Just grind through it. It’s training camp. We still have another week to go in training camp even though the rosters are being reduced. … It’s a time for us to work and improve and get better.”
The preseason, it seems, isn’t a precursor of the future. Belichick said he wouldn’t have a real idea about his team until October, when the Patriots were five or six games into the season.
Belichick doubled down on that notion while speaking with the media later at Gillette Stadium. Given Carolina and Las Vegas played backups against the Patriots’ starters, he’s right when he says that might not be the best indicator. The starters should look good against second- and third-stringers. Agreed.
But what if they flopped against the subs?
The Pats’ starters struggled both in games, as well as joint practices. They didn’t pile up points Friday night. Far from it. And yet, no alarm bells appear to have gone off inside Gillette Stadium.
Instead, it seemed like the powers that be were preaching patience. Or, simply doing what they could to buy time.
So right now, all the free rushers allowed in on the quarterback during training camp and the preseason, all the missed assignments with the new zone blocking scheme, isn’t any reason for concern. Seeing Jones barely resemble the quarterback he was last year is just a blip on the radar at this point, listening to Belichick.
In other words, there was little to no indication about them scrapping the “new” blocking scheme at this stage — 12 days away from the season opener in Miami — and going back to what works.
Of course, Belichick & Co. could be fibbing. They could be altering the truth “for the good of the team,” as Belichick likes to say. After all, game plans and strategies must be protected and kept top secret at all costs.
Plus, they’re not going to admit it’s blown up in their face, or that it wasn’t a good idea having Matt Patricia and Joe Judge, two coaches with little to no experience with the offense, much less calling plays, follow Josh McDaniels.
Instead, their heads are either in the collective sand, or everyone’s just making mountains out of mole hills.
Patricia, who is the offensive line coach, as well as play-caller, met with the media and said they were simply going to push ahead, and “improve the offense any way we can.”
It didn’t sound like he meant pivoting from the outside zone scheme. Asked when the time would be to pull the plug because the line wasn’t getting it, Patricia said they were still in a teaching phase. It was like dumping the scheme didn’t apply.
It was more about fundamentals, honing techniques in all different types of runs, and working through some of the nuances.
“Sometimes the emphasis isn’t so much on what does the production look like at the moment. It’s how good are we with our pad level, our hand placement, our foot placement,” he said. “Right now, we’ll run them into looks that maybe aren’t great, just so we can get the runs run at that particular moment. And make sure we get enough reps at everything.”
Patricia, however, did leave the door open for adjustments to be made. It didn’t sound like it was going to happen now, but at some point down the road should the need arise.
“We have the opportunity to tweak things as we go,” he said. “And certainly we know as the season goes, we’ll certainly always modify and adjust as needed based on not only scheme but personnel. I think that’s a big part of it, too. Trying to figure out the bodies on the field.”
As for Jones, Patricia completely dodged specific questions about Jones’ confidence in the new offense, the line, etc.
What about Patricia? Has he seen enough to feel confident in the offense he’s calling?
“Great question,” Patricia shot back immediately the questioner.
Then he proceeded to bail on the answer.
That’s because the Patriots are doing their best to avoid acknowledging that a problem exists. At least, that’s how it looks from the outside.
