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Mac's Mulligan: After Wasted Season, Patriots' QB Back on Track?

New England Patriots' quarterback Mac Jones seems ready to put a disastrous, dysfunctional 2022 behind him.

Of all the important positions in the New England Patriots' offseason, the most vital just might be the space between Mac Jones' ears. After a turbulent season littered with obvious regression and emotional outbursts, getting the quarterback's focus and confidence back on track needs to be the highest of priorities.

The Pats, of course, are not the most nurturing of organizations. Spoiled by being on auto-pilot for two decades thanks to Tom Brady, Bill Belichick's no-nonsense leadership style is much more efficient than, say, empathetic. 

Even with the addition of Bill O'Brien and the necessary subtraction of failed offensive play-caller Matt Patricia, the words of support for Jones have been short and sweet.

O'Brien offered Jones a "clean slate."

When asked during the NFL Draft if Jones was his team's starting quarterback, Belichick responded with a simple "yeah."

And just like that - despite the persistent rumors that the team was so unhappy with Jones' seeking outside counsel last season that they had him on the trade block in March - it's supposed to be all repaired?

To his credit, Jones is using the most of his 2022 mulligan. After a season that careened into the ditch thanks to an ankle injury, Patricia's incompetence and the shadow of Bailey Zappe, the Pats' quarterback is seemingly embracing a new start, and an old face in O'Brien.

"It's been really good," Jones said Wednesday after OTAs on the fields near Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. "It's been normal. I feel like everyone's on the same page."

As familiar as the two are via their Alabama roots, it can't be lost on critics that Jones is now under his third offensive coordinator in three years in New England.

"It's a marathon not a sprint, we know that,"  Jones said. "(O'Brien)'s obviously had a lot of great experience in the NFL and at Alabama where I was at so there's a lot of good stuff that we talk about. Just looking forward to working with him."

In the wake of last season Jones posted cryptic messages that had fans wondering about his mindset. But early in OTAs the quarterback sounds re-committed to the "Patriot Way."


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