Patriots QB Mac Jones, under Matt Patricia’s new offense, feels ‘shot in the heart’ amid struggles
While it’s still early in training camp, Mac Jones and the New England Patriots offense are struggling.
After their first two practices with pads, which didn’t go well for him and his unit, Jones is upset with their progress.
“We have a lot of room to grow here,” Jones said on Tuesday, via Boston.com. “Our offensive line is doing a great job, we just have to get on the same page.”
The Patriots are currently working to install a new offensive scheme under senior football advisor and offensive line coach Matt Patricia — who spent six seasons as the Patriots’ defensive coordinator before his stint leading the Detroit Lions.
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So far, the Patriots offense is losing far more than it is winning.
“I care a lot about football and … when we lose the day, to me that’s like a shot in the heart, it’s like we lost a game,” Jones said, via Boston.com. “The goal is to have more good plays than the other team and that’s the defense right now. I feel like we can compete even more and even better, but a lot of it is just execution and the Xs and Os and figuring out how to communicate with each other.”
Jones is set to enter his second season in the league this fall, following a rookie season where he threw for 3,801 yards and 22 touchdowns with 13 interceptions. He said Tuesday that the team is using new formations and setting up a new offense for the first time, which will naturally lead to growing pains. Jones said for now, they’re just “trying to run our base plays,” nothing too complicated.
Although it’s been a tough two days, Jones isn’t worried about their progress in the long term. At least, not yet.
“Every problem has a solution,” Jones said, via MassLive.com. “Some of the plays that we’re running, we’re going out there and seeing what it looks like first, and then trying to figure it out. So that’s the biggest thing, is just getting the plays on the screen and watching them, ‘Alright here’s the problem, this guy’s unblocked, how do we block him?’ It’s really not rocket science but our job is to execute what they tell us.
“It’s just every play is a different play whether it’s a run or pass and the communication on each play is different. So it takes reps, it takes watching film and doing all that.”
