Patriots

‘We have a lot of room to grow here’: Mac Jones emphasizes patience while Patriots work through new offense

The Patriots held their second padded practice of training camp on Tuesday, with the defense outperforming the offense again.

By AJ Nelson

August 2, 2022

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Patriots quarterback Mac Jones is preaching patience through the process following another training camp practice in which the defense appeared to outplay the offense.

In the last few practices, Jones has had to scramble because plays have broken down. Jones emphasized that learning a new offense takes time.

“We have a lot of room to grow here,” Jones said following Tuesday’s practice. “…Our offensive line is doing a good job, we just have to get on the same page.”

As the Patriots work to discover their offensive identity, Jones has been visibly frustrated at points as the offense has struggled.

“I care a lot about football and…when we lose the day, to me that’s like a shot in the heart, it’s like we lost a game,” Jones said of his frustration.

“The goal is to have more good plays than the other team and that’s the defense right now. I feel like we can compete even more and even better, but a lot of it is just execution and the Xs and Os and figuring out how to communicate with each other.”

Jones emphasized communication among players and coaches during practice and during film review as a key to improvement.

“A lot of it is just talking through it and finding ways to attack better,” Jones said. “We have great coaches that will get us [to being successful] and right now it’s more about the communication of getting there.”

One of the positive developments for the offense since the team put the pads on for the first time on Monday is the play from second-round rookie receiver Tyquan Thornton. After making an impressive catch on a deep pass from Jones in a 1-on-1 drill on Monday, Thornton made an over-the-shoulder catch with Jalen Mills covering him on Tuesday.

Jones had some high praise for the rookie.

“I think Ty is a hard worker. He’s starting to really grasp some of the things we’re doing and getting open,” Jones said. “He clearly has the speed to get open.”

Jones complimented the receiving corps as a whole and expressed his confidence in their ability to fit into the offense.

“We have a great group of guys and we need to get the ball out to them,” Jones said. “That’s the whole point of this offense – to get the ball to different people and not key in on one person and spread the wealth and let those guys run after catch.”

With New England’s first preseason game against Carolina coming up on Aug. 11, Jones is not worried about the offense coming together.

“We need to just grow a little bit more here and kind of pick up the pace a little bit and see if we can get ready for this next week right here,” Jones said. “That’s all you can ask for.”