It can’t be understated how bad the New England Patriots offense was throughout the 2022 season. Coming into a year with some new weapons and potential to make some noise in the AFC, New England fell flat in their faces. One of the worst showings was from Mac Jones, who was benched for Bailey Zappe at points throughout the year. With all these questions about Jones looming, he seems to be locked in on this upcoming campaign and is ready to put the past behind him.
Reporters were asking Jones about the situation in 2023, and he said, “No, I think we’re good. I think the biggest thing is that we’ve all talked about is just having a fresh start. I think there’s a lot of learning experiences from last year that we’ve talked about and this year, it’s all about just working together, right?”
He went on to talk about how he has been striving for consistency all offseason and is hopefully going to bring this offense to another level with the help of their new play caller, Bill O’Brien.
In 2022, the Patriots ended the regular season with a mediocre 8-9 record and missed the postseason once again. Jones went from looking like the next Tom Brady at times in his rookie campaign, to leading the Patriots to the 26th ranked offense and 27th ranked third-down conversion rate.
Throughout the year cameras caught frustration building up on the sidelines from Jones and others, who were just unable to get things figured out. Whether it was the play calling, the execution, the chemistry, something was clearly wrong there offensively.
Mac Jones And Bill Belichick In The Hot Seat
Jones also had this to say, “I think every season, right, regardless of what sport you’re playing, what you’re doing or your job, you’re trying to become better at what you do. For me, it’s just a lot of listening, taking everything in and really just working hard. I’m just trying to try new things in the offseason, but once I come out here and once we come out here as a team, at the end of the day you’re running through these plays trying to just get a feel for them.”
Then, Jones went on to wrap up his interview time by saying, “That’s the biggest thing, is don’t overthink anything and just go out there and play the game that we know.”
On top of the Mac Jones intrigue, there’s been talk about Bill Belichick once again being in the hot seat due to some issues with ownership. This has happened numerous times already. Even with Tom Brady around. It’s just incredibly hard to believe that they would get rid of a guy that’s won six Super Bowls. And has found a way to keep New England at least competitive in the three years since Brady’s departure. Then again, this is a big year for the Patriots. Another disappointing and mediocre season would point to a number of changes likely occurring down there.