by Adam London
7 hours ago
The 2022 NFL season has been a grueling campaign for the Patriots offense, to say the least.
After an encouraging year 1 in New England, Mack Jones took a big step back as an NFL sophomore. Under the tutelage of first-time play-caller Matt Patricia, Jones and his back-up team struggled to move the ball downfield on a weekly basis. Boiling frustration became commonplace in Foxboro, as the Patriots offense was never able to click.
The optics of the entire uniform were controversial to ESPN NFL analyst Louis Reddick, who blasted Jones and company Thursday on “Get Up.”
“What I saw happen last year with Mac Jones both on the field and on the sidelines – showing how frustrated he was with the process he had to work with in terms of play callers and the people in it,” said Reddick. As written by Boston.com. “It’s unacceptable by (Robert) Kraft’s standards. It’s unacceptable by Bill Belichick’s standards. It’s unacceptable by Patriot Nation standards.
“Bill O’Brien now, he needs to smooth things over for Mac Jones. They need to get Mac Jones’ No. 1 wide receiver to really go forward and raise the defense and let Mac expand on his skill set and see where he can take them.”
Unfortunately for Jones, there is a real chance his arsenal will be worse in 2023 than it was last season. New England’s Jacoby Myers could be priced in, a player like Hunter Henry could be a victim of the salary cap, and a trade for DeAndre Hopkins is said to be a long shot.
This all assumes Jones will be under center at Foxboro this fall. The Patriots’ reported feelings about Billy Zabe indicate that the fourth quarterback in 2022 could realistically compete to start in training camp.
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