Coming off a promising season for the Patriots in 2021-2022 which ended in a wild card exit, it was safe to assume that Mac Jones would make the rookie-to-year-two jump and propel the Pats to one of the top teams in the AFC in 2022. The Patriots spent $163 million dollars last off-season in free agency, by far their biggest expenditure in the history of the franchise. They signed top talents like Hunter Henry, Matt Judon, Jonnu Smith, and many role players such as Kendrick Bourne, Davon Godchaux, and Nelson Agholor. Some of these players performed well during last year's campaign, and some didn't do great, but the one thing that they all have in common is that they "should" be poised to make a big jump in the second year of their tenures on their new teams.
It is not looking like those year two jumps are going to happen. Since Bill Belichick began installing a new offense in March of 2022, there have been very few positives. Mac Jones, the Patriots' franchise quarterback, has shown his repugnance in the new scheme and his play has taken a major step backward. (I don't think that there is a quarterback in the league that would thrive and improve with Matt Patricia and Joe Judge as their two offensive coordinators.)
Heading into the third and final pre-season game against the Las Vegas Raiders, the New England offense hasn't really had that many bright spots. Well, what do you think should happen if we play our first stringers and the Raiders play all of their players that are fighting for a spot on their roster? We should blow them out, right? That was not the case Friday night. In the just under one half of football that our starters played, we were outscored 13-3. We were down 10 against a bunch of no-name players! I can guarantee you that was not how Bill Belichick wanted to end his pre-season.
There are still two weeks left to improve before we kick off in Miami. We have a lot of work that needs to be done and I think I'm talking for all Pats fans here when I say, Bill, please work your magic.
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