Everything looks better after a win, even an offensive performance that managed only 17 points but was enough to secure a victory.
Though the Patriots' offense is still far from a well-oiled machine, they did put some of last week's struggles behind them against a tough Pittsburgh Steelers defense, getting explosive plays from high-priced wide receiver Nelson Agholor and closing out the game on the ground with some old-school menace.
Strategically, Matt Patricia and the play-calling conglomerate also demonstrated tangible improvement from week ones disjointed performance against Miami, passing on first down more and wielding play action to keep the Steelers guessing.
During his weekly appearance on WEEI‘s "The Greg Hill Show" on Monday morning, Bill Belichick acknowledged the week-to-week growth in the offense's operation and says he expects more leaps down the line.
"I think everything will improve as we go the more time we spend doing it, especially in game conditions and against this kind of competition that we're seeing, that will force us to work harder and have to execute better," he said.
"Just in general, our execution, our fundamentals, as we build out our breadth of play-calling, formations, things like that, we'll be able to have balance in the offense and a higher level of execution."
On one hand, it’s hard to definitively say the Patriots were in a better play-calling rhythm this week given the delay-of-game penalty, a timeout burned with the play clock running down and confusion that still exists for the snap at times.
But you also can’t argue with the fact that New England made very necessary adjustments after its Week 1 defeat against Miami and got good results from it.
What’s more: the balance Belichick spoke of what’s on display in Sunday’s win over Pittsburgh.
Though Mac Jones didn’t have his best game, he did still manage 252 yards passing while completing 60 percent of his passes. Then, the running game got 118 yards rushing on 24 carries by running backs, averaging almost five yards per attempt.
Josh McDaniels and several former Patriots coaches might be plying their trade in Las Vegas at the moment, but it’s clear this team still knows where its roots are and how to tap into them. Belichick suggested the relative continuity of the coaching staff -- minus those departures to the AFC west -- has helped his offense retain that identity.
"I think we have a good mix of experienced coaches and younger coaches…offensively, Joe [Judge] brings a high level of experience and experience in this organization. Matt [Patricia] was here…Bill Yates was here, worked with the offensive line last year. Vinnie's a carryover. Troy's a carryover.
So I think the experience we lost with Josh, Bo [Hardigree], Mick Lombardi and Carm [Bricillo], we replaced that to a degree and the rest of the staff, there was a lot of continuity."
McDaniels' new team, of course, has started off 0-2 after a heartbreaking overtime loss on Sunday. Still, most people in the area would likely take McDaniels back as offensive coordinator at the drop of a hat if they could.
Patricia and this multi-headed offensive coaching monster might not ever measure up to the heights McDaniels took this offense in years past. But for one week, they at least showed they could learn from their mistakes.
