FOXBORO — It was an inauspicious begin to coaching camp for Patriots quarterback Mac Jones on Wednesday morning.
On his first aggressive throw of the summer time, he dropped again in a red-zone drill, briefly turned his physique to the suitable the place working again Rhamondre Stevenson was working a swing route, directed his consideration again to the center of the sphere and tried to loft a cross to tight finish Mike Gesicki behind the tip zone.
And he was picked off by security Kyle Dugger.
It can solely go up from right here for Jones after throwing an interception in his first 7-on-7 rep of summer time, and it did on Wednesday. Jones completed 4-of-7 in 11-on-11 drills towards a ball-hawking secondary and 5-of-10 with the interception general in workforce drills. Backup quarterbacks Bailey Zappe and Trace McSorely every accomplished lower than half of their passing makes an attempt. It was robust sledding towards a Patriots’ protection that introduced again almost each single affect participant from the 2022 season and added first-round decide Christian Gonzalez at cornerback.
After a 2022 season that noticed the QB’s efficiency decline from his productive 2021 rookie marketing campaign, Jones has his sights set on the long run. He’s trying ahead, not again, and that features in his relationship with head coach Bill Belichick.
“No, I think we’re good,” Jones mentioned when requested how he would characterize his relationship with Belichick. “I feel the most important factor that we’ve all talked about is simply having a contemporary begin. I feel there’s a variety of studying experiences from final yr that we’ve talked about. And this yr, it’s all about simply working collectively, proper?
“You’ve gotta come up with a plan and then obviously talk about it and then execute it. So I’m excited for that part of it. Really for me just trying to be consistent, try not to ride the wave and just stay my course, and hopefully everybody on our offense feels that too. I think Coach (offensive coordinator Bill) O’Brien does a great job laying out what we do well so far, and we’re going to learn every day what we do well and from there you just keep moving forward and execute the plan. Definitely excited for that.”
Belichick was hovering across the offense throughout Wednesday’s red-zone workforce drills. Jones repeated a message he delivered throughout spring practices that he principally learns about defenses from Belichick.
He did soften the message a bit, nevertheless. In June, Jones mentioned Belichick is “really good with the defensive side of the ball … that’s what he really does really, really well.” Prior to turning into a head coach, Belichick primarily did work on the defensive aspect of the ball. He hasn’t been a place coach on offense since 1977.
“Yeah, I think he’s done a great job,” Jones mentioned of Belichick on Wednesday. “I feel on the finish of the day, he does an important job explaining defenses and all of these issues that may assist a quarterback and particularly within the purple zone as a result of it’s a bit bit tighter down there.
“I think (O’Brien) does a great job, as well, just explaining everything and (assistant quarterbacks coach) Evan (Rothstein), so it’s kind of those three guys that you can lean on and obviously the players too. You can ask the players questions, and I think it’s great that our defense is really good. It makes it harder. It’ll be a great camp, because we’re going to go back and forth hopefully and just battle with each other.”
The Patriots didn’t have an offensive coordinator final season, as a substitute leaning on Belichick, offensive line coach Matt Patricia and quarterbacks coach Joe Judge to run the offense. Patricia is now a senior defensive assistant with the Philadelphia Eagles, and whereas Judge now has the title of assistant head coach on the Patriots’ employees, he’s spent his time with particular groups in apply.
Jones accomplished 67.6 % of his passes for 3,801 yards with 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in probably the most environment friendly seasons for a rookie quarterback in NFL historical past in 2021 below then-offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. O’Brien was nonetheless below contract at Alabama on the time, so the Patriots allowed Patricia and Judge to take over for McDaniels. Jones accomplished 65.2 % of his passes for two,997 yards with 14 touchdowns and 11 interceptions whereas lacking three video games with a excessive ankle sprain.
Jones was requested about being energized by the change in offensive coordinators.
“Yeah, I think just for me I’m self motivated and all of those things comes from within,” Jones mentioned. “And simply attempting to be the very best model of me. I hope my teammates can see that. I’m simply going to grind it out and hopefully I can carry lots of people together with me. That’s the large factor. You’re the quarterback, and on the finish of the day after we’re on that discipline, they should really feel assured in me, and I have to really feel assured in them. I feel that’s constructed by way of belief.
“I think that’s the big word here for this training camp is trust. That’s going to come through trial and error, that’s going to come through good and bad, so it’s not always going to be great. So, just having that positive mindset and just kind of staying the course and running my race and bringing people along with me.”
It wasn’t at all times nice for Jones in his first apply of the summer time. But he threw landing passes to tight finish Hunter Henry and huge receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster on Wednesday. And it’s lots simpler to belief the method with O’Brien as offensive coordinator.
Source: www.bostonherald.com