Going against the Raiders in the first of two joint practices Tuesday, the Patriots offense once again was erratic.
After practice, Patriots quarterback Mac Jones tried to explain why.
During his weekly session on WEEI’s “Merloni, Fauria & Mego,” Jones said the unit is still trying to figure out its identity.
“I think we have really good players, really good skill players I can spread the ball around to. But every system’s different, right?” he said. “So it’s kind of getting a feel for what you want to do, what your m.o. is as an offense. The big thing right now is figuring that out.”
On Tuesday, Jones went 14-for-26 with an interception in team drills. He finished practice by running a successful 2 -minute drill, but it was an overall slog for the offense. The Patriots’ starting unit managed one positive run in seven attempts.
With their first regular-season game less than three weeks away, time is running out for Jones and Co. to establish an identity. Asked if he was willing to accept failure during a training camp practice, Jones didn’t think that applied.
“Failure is putting a label on something that’s a process. We’re just trying to focus on the process, and not the result. Failure would be considered a result,” he said. “We’re just trying to work through it all. … We don’t need to overcomplicate it. It’s a simple game if you make it a simple game. We’re all trying to get there, which doesn’t happen overnight.”
Jones, however, didn’t necessarily believe moving on from the old system and learning and adapting to a “new” offense should be so crippling.
“To me, I’ve always prided myself on being a smart quarterback. I like to just operate whatever offense we have,” he said. “There’s a lot of different changes, but at the same time, we have really good coaches who are providing insight that we might not have had before from a defensive perspective.”
Jones also wouldn’t say having three coaches – Bill Belichick, Matt Patricia and Joe Judge – running the offense instead of one offensive coordinator was a problem. But did he prefer one coach, over three?
“It always goes back to the players and listening to the coaches, and doing the scheme correctly. We have to do better at that,” Jones said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s one person in your helmet, or you’re listening to different people. I enjoy getting coached in general. Sometimes on the practice field, I get really competitive. And I want it to go better. But it’s more about the process, just watching the film, and getting better with still a young offense.
“Sometimes you have to realize, that’s what we are right now.”
Jones was also asked about veteran wideout Kendrick Bourne, who has struggled to this point in training camp. Over the past two weeks, Bourne has the fewest catches in team drills of any skill player on the roster. He also wasn’t available for Friday’s preseason game against Carolina. Jones didn’t sound worried about his second-leading receiver from last year.
“I love Kendrick. He’s working hard. Like I said, the plays will come. We talked about it,” he said. “Even last year, during camp, he was trying to learn everything and find his role. He didn’t get as much balls, then the season came, and he got a lot of throws.”
