There's no sugarcoating how rough the first-team offense has looked in its preseason drives (save one) and throughout training camp.
In particular, the offensive line is missing assignments and has been in flux with personnel, and Mac Jones has looked less than comfortable on a good many drop-backs and hasn't been as crisp as we're accustomed to seeing.
But are some of the issues we're seeing a result of the Patriots simply experimenting with their new offense and because they're, well, bad?
NBC Sports Boston's Phil Perry laid out his reasoning for why the Jones and the offense might not look quite as lost when the season begins, with an especial eye on Jones himself.
"A lot of what they've done this summer, including in the preseason games, has been getting to the line of scrimmage and running the play that's called," Perry said in a report Monday afternoon. "I think once we get to the regular season, I feel confident Mac Jones will have more power. He'll be able to get to the line and say, 'We're not going to run this play into this look. We have a better play for this look I have it in my brain. I'm going to communicate it to my teammates, and we're going to be a better offense.'"
This argument lines up with what Jones himself has said during camp — that the Patriots have often opted to run the original play called simply to see how it looks on film rather than check out of plays being run against bad looks.
Of course, that still doesn't wholly excuse bad execution in the run game that involves defenders coming into the backfield completely unblocked, experienced tackles not even looking a free-running blitz coming to smoke the quarterback, or said quarterback gift-wrapping interceptions for linebackers.
But perhaps it's of some comfort to think the Patriots are purposefully going through trial and error instead of just being completely inept and that Jones might kill some of these plays if he doesn't like the front he's seeing in a game that actually matters.
Also, it suggests there's little to worry about regarding the play-calling (yet), assuming the offense is scripted to see what certain plays look like rather than freely (and poorly) called. In fact, there are signs that Matt Patricia and the conglomerate of influences in his ear see what everyone else sees regarding the struggles in the run game and are staying prepared.
None of this guarantees the offense will be fine in Week 1 — it will probably have an uneven performance — or that Patricia is actually an offensive play-calling genius in the making. (If he was, he probably would've been someone's offensive coordinator before now.)
Still, it maybe explains another piece of the “process” Jones and Bill Belichick have been alluding for weeks and why both continue to preach patience with the offense even as they bumble their way through practices and preseason.
Of course, this all banks on Jones, a second-year quarterback, making all the right pre-snap decisions when they're put in his hands and then executing them, which puts a heavy burden on him to make this offense work.
We'll see if he's ready for the challenge.
