Mac Jones was all of us.
When the Patriots second-year quarterback threw his hands in the air in disgust, he merely mimicked most New England fans and observers.
His vocal explosions on the field and sidelines paralleled what so many felt in the Gillette Stadium stands or on the other side of the TV screen.
There is no way to describe it other than to say 2022 was a miserable, frustrating, lost season for the New England offense. But this isn’t yet another column rehashing and re-bashing Bill Belichick for his decision to replace longtime experienced, competent and proven offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels with an ill-conceived coaching concoction of Matt Patricia and Joe Judge. This isn’t about piling on Patricia’s inabilities as a former failed head coach and defensive mind to call plays at a requisite NFL level. Nor is it about Judge’s role in Jones’ clear and obvious regression in his sophomore campaign.
Nope, all that is now in the past. This is actually an optimistic outlook.
Less than a week into the 2023 offseason the New England offense is clearly in a much better place.
First came the unprecedented press release detailing how the Patriots were embarking on the offseason, an eye on extending the contract of key defensive assistant Jerod May but most importantly revealing that New England would be interviewing offensive coordinator candidates this week!
Hoorah! Hallelujah!
In the days since, we’ve accumulated a solid list of options for Robert Kraft and Belichick to consider for the critical role.
Finally and thankfully former Patriots offensive coordinator and Alabama assistant Bill O’Brien got the interview we all wish had come about 12 months earlier. But at least he’s finally actually in the mix. He’s the most enticing candidate, a guy with experience working under Belichick, a long history of calling plays at both the college and pro level and, maybe most interestingly, an institutional knowledge of the Tide offense where Jones found his greatest success.
But wait, there’s been much, much more. New England tight ends coach Nick Caley, another name who could and should have been a consideration a year ago, also interviewed for the open job. As frustrating as it would be to acknowledge the willfully wasted year with him working right under the nose of Belichick and Patricia, at least Caley is finally getting a shot.
And the net being cast doesn’t just include guys with experience coaching under Belichick, the kind of FOB (Friend of Bill) thinking that got us in this bottomed-out offensive position in the first place.
Sure Oregon assistant Adrian Klemm, Cardinals associate head coach/wide receiver Shawn Jefferson and Vikings wide receivers coach Keenan McCardell all played for Belichick at one point or another. But they’ve all also had unique football coaching journeys, preparation through a variety of stops gaining insight into the modern game, athletes and offenses that currently rule the NFL roost.
Any or all of these guys could be great options or fall on their football-coaching faces. No one knows. That’s how this works.
But we do know they are better candidates, better options than what Belichick turned to in a momentous lapse in judgement for his team last offseason.
Last year there was never one second of optimism for the Patriots offense. The unit was swimming upstream against a whitewater rush of pessimism. And rightfully so. Talent aside, the unit was flawed at its schematic, systemic and coaching foundation. It was built to cave in and collapse on itself and that’s exactly what it did.
Now, though, now there is early offseason hope and optimism.
Now, we can actually speculate how added talents at receiver or along the offensive line might fit into a puzzle of potential success.
Now it feels like all the trials, tribulations and Jones-led travesties of the 2022 New England offense are literally a thing of the past. Water under the bridge.
It’s nowhere near the point where we’ll all laugh about this someday, a Patriot Nation chuckle at what transpired in the funny fall of ’22.
Too soon.
But Belichick’s Patriots -- or should we say Kraft's Patriots -- have moved on.
And there is reason for hope for Jones and the New England offense. That’s something that never existed over the last year.
The Patriots are already in a better place, which probably tells us all we needed to know about just how pitifully ridiculous last fall really was.
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