Bill O’Brien, Mac Jones: Can They Rebuild Patriots' Broken Offense?
FOXBORO — ‘Godfatherly’ speaking, the New England Patriots offense is now under the direction of a new ‘caporegime.’
The proverbial ‘things being negotiated’ have ‘solved the problems and answered the questions.’
Matt Patricia is no longer ‘consigliere.’
The Pats officially welcomed old friend and trusted soldier Bill O’Brien back into the Foxboro ‘famiglia’ on Tuesday by hiring him as their new offensive coordinator.
For O’Brien, it marks his second tour of duty in New England, where he previously served under head coach Bill Belichick from 2007-11; coaching quarterbacks, calling offensive plays and one official season (2011) as offensive coordinator.
For the Patriots, it is time to repair what had become a fractured offense under Patricia’s management. In his lone season at the command post, the Pats offense regressed from one showing significant promise (in 2021) to a subpar unit dwelling among the NFL's bottom teams. The 2022 iteration of Patriots finished 7th-worst in total yards while scoring only 21.4 points per game (17th in the NFL).
In short, New England’s offense has little place else to go but up.
As such, there is a palpable undercurrent of excitement in New England in the wake of O’Brien’s hiring — with quarterback Mac Jones apparently leading the charge.
The Pats starter is reportedly “very” excited about O’Brien joining the coaching staff. In fact, MassLive’s Mark Daniels advised (through a source) that Jones “is looking forward to working with coach O’Brien,” and that it will be “nice to start a new working relationship with someone that you already have had the opportunity to work with.”
Despite entering the season on the heels of an impressive rookie campaign, Jones struggled to rekindle his previous success in 2022. The 24-year-old displayed notable discomfort in New England's new offensive system throughout the season. At times, the disconnect between the players and the coaching staff was so overt that Jones was observed hurling expletive-laden frustrations, believed to be in the direction of his coaches.
Ultimately, he finished the season with 2,997 yards, 14 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
While Jones has shied away from deflecting responsibility for his backslide, he did express a desire for a bit more persistence in the way he is coached.
“It’s accountability. It starts with me. I think I want to be coached harder,” Jones said at the conclusion of the season.
This season, he will get his wish … as few, if any, coaches in football are as willing to ‘go to the mattresses’ as Bill O’Brien.
However, will Belichick channel his inner Vito Corleone by declaring that he ‘never thought Mac was a bad quarterback … rather, he thought Matty P was a bad offensive ‘Don?”
It starts by taking the pressure off their young signal caller — literally.
For the majority of the season, Jones struggled to maintain his presence in the pocket, often finding himself under duress. Teams having the most success against him have been those who have deployed strategically placed blitzes from the second and third level of the defense. The pressure confused Jones, causing him to open at the top of his drop in the wrong direction, leading to suspect decision-making.
With inadequate protection from the team’s offensive line, Jones has had insufficient time to operate. As a result, he has had little-to-no choice but to take short-yardage check downs, especially with the Pats opponents’ perimeter corners taking away his preferred routes and targets.
Unsurprisingly, Jones ranked in the bottom 10 of NFL quarterbacks in terms of completion percentage and positive plays when pressured.
For all of the discussion surrounding the Patriots need to change their passing game, O’Brien’s hiring seems to indicate a return to a timing-based scheme, predicated on vertical routes and completions from quick, accurate throws. While the Patricia-led regime attempted to incorporate more zone reads into their repertoire, the quick-game (or, using the run to facilitate play-action passes) still seems to be where Jones it at is best.
It is also where O’Brien, shines as well.
During his time at Alabama, Jones was quite proficient at running this type of offense. With a strong supporting cast of playmakers around him, Jones was able to create plays by leading his receivers under the defense, releasing the ball quickly and delivering it accurately. This gave his playmakers the space they needed to catch and run with the football. Not only did it put points on the board, it also helped to keep the quarterback ahead of the blitz and out of duress.
As such, it should come as no surprise that when Crimson Tide (and well-known Belichick associate) brought in O’Brien to coordinate his offense, Jones was one of the select few players tasked with assisting him in learning the nuances of the ‘Bama system.
“I think the most challenging thing for me was, when I came in here, learning this offense,” O’Brien said prior to the 2021 Cotton Bowl. “And I had a lot of people help me, people that were here before, guys on the coaching staff, obviously Bryce [Young]. I’ve said before, Mac Jones, when he was working out for the draft, helped me, which was great.
“So I’m really thankful to those people. That was the most challenging thing because I had been involved with an offense for 10 to 15 years, whatever it was, similar offense. But when you come here, you’re running Alabama’s offense; you’re not bringing your offense in here. And it’s a great offense with a great history. And it was really awesome to learn it, but it was very challenging.”
It should be noted that O’Brien’s hiring, alone, does not automatically heal every offensive wound in New England. The 53-year-old coach must establish his voice, as well as his command with his team. Still, his brief experience in working with Jones will lessen the timeframe for both coach and quarterback to land on the same page.
Jones, for whatever reason, did not appear to have that with Patricia. Despite every effort by both sides to downplay it, there was a clear disconnect between the two.
Jones will not have that excuse with O’Brien. With the right coach now in place, the responsibility to improve now rests on the Patriots starter as he begins preparations for his third season under center.
Should all go according to plan, the Pats will once again find success on offense.
If not, Patricia may not be the only one on the opposite side of a dark, closing office door.
After all, it’s not personal … it’s strictly business.
Especially, in New England.
Follow Mike D’Abate on Twitter @mdabateNFL and Listen/Subscribe to his daily podcast: Locked On Patriots
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