Look out, ladies and gentlemen: the Patriots might just be about to pull one of the greatest magic tricks in sports this year.
A week after leading an anemic, dysfunctional offense against the Las Vegas Raiders' backups last Friday in a frankly troubling performance, New England quarterback Mac Jones says everything's good now.
"I think we've ironed out a lot of things and it's good that they're happening now," he told reporters during media availability at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday. "I feel confident in what we're doing. We just have to go out there and do it for 60 minutes, and that's just play-by-play."
There you have it. It's that simple. In the week or so since Friday's dud in Vegas, the Patriots have hashed things out in practice just like they did after the brutal Monday before their preseason game against the New York Giants and figured out how to get 11 guys doing their jobs each play instead of routinely failing. Remarkable stuff.
Okay, in all seriousness, hearing Jones speak the words "I feel confident" regarding the Patriots' offense seems like an important development after the struggles he and the offense have endured this summer — last week especially.
He definitely didn't look or sound too confident when he was sleepwalking into sacks, slinging picks, and slamming tablets to the ground last Friday or pacing up and down the sidelines during joint practices against the Raiders.
That said, Jones has also maintained that the end result of the play called — which often has been run without regard to whether the defensive front suggests it's a bad idea (e.g., for educational purposes) — isn't as important as important as the journey it took to get there this early in the season.
"I don't think canning a play because it doesn't work one time in a game or practice is [a good] idea," Jones explained. "… I just like to know why and when the coaches explain that to me, they've done a great job explaining, 'hey, this is why we're doing this,' and from there it's my job to execute it and do a great job. That's one of the things that I feel like we have ironed out."
Okay, that right there isn't helping the attempt to keep things in perspective.
On one hand, it's perhaps not surprising that the Patriots' coaching staff is still explaining the "whys" and the point of what he's doing on specific plays to Jones -- still trying to work within his very "particular" way of understanding and processing each play. They're both building a new relationship somewhat from scratch and teaching a new offensive system at the same time.
But it's also a tacit acknowledgment of what Bill Belichick hinted when he said on WEEI's airwaves that September is an extension of the preseason: this first month of offensive football will be closer to "ugly" than "well-oiled machine."
Jones has generally been well-coached on the "process" line Belichick has been pushing this preseason. But it hasn't stopped the quarterback from visibly slipping up in practice and games -- something he maybe needs to corral a bit more as a young player. Even more worrisome, though, is that Jones has started exhibiting something he rarely did as a rookie: letting bad plays compound into worse ones.
The young passer's passionate perfectionism is part of what's helped him get to where he is, and he's generally balanced that well with letting the adversity he's faced thus far in the pros roll off his back. This will be his biggest test yet, and it's obviously been a slog to start.
So while his current confidence in the offensive plan and how it's been communicated to him are good things, it won't mean anything if those good vibes implode at the first sign of trouble -- just like the Patriots offense has repeatedly done that this summer.
