Mac, Pats 'O' not ready for prime time ... yet

Aug. 17—FOXBOROUGH — There's apparently a new, altered motto in the National Football League, with the Los Angeles Rams beating the drum loudly last February:

Offense wins championships.

And if we're getting technical, it's a specific type of offense, maybe altering the motto even more:

Passing wins championships.

If you've been following the New England Patriots this late summer you've heard it many, many times.

"Mac Jones, and the Patriots offense, bleeps!"

In other words, the young, upstart Patriots quarterback, recently ranked the No. 85 best player in the league on the NFL's Top 100, hasn't been all that early in the 2022 preseason.

As for the ranking, which I agree with, don't blame me or anybody else. NFL players vote for that.

There have been other rumblings and criticisms for the offense's bad look this early in the 2022 preseason. The coaches allegedly calling the plays, Matt Patricia and/or Joe Judge, are rookies when it comes to that side of the ball.

Why go with two recent NFL head coaching failures, with Patricia in Detroit and Judge in New York (Giants)?

The hell if I know. The hell if anybody outside of Bill Belichick's inner, inner, inner circle knows.

But I do know Belichick, if yesterday's workouts with the Carolina Panthers were the rule instead of the exception, is getting his meat hooks involved in the offense, too, spending an inordinate amount of time with the offense rather than his bread-and-butter, the defense.

What did we learn in Day 1 of the joint practices with the Panthers?

Not much, at least when it comes to the Mac Jones-led passing attack.

Jones and new No. 1 receiver DeVante Parker hit on two nice passes/catches when the teams were going full bore, 11 vs. 11. and ninth year veteran acquisition Ty Montgomery, the 2022 version of Cordarrelle Patterson — as in a run, receive and return option — looked like the newest Mac Jones binky.

The pass protection was better than it's been.

Second-year wideout Kristian Wilkerson appeared to be en route to having a nice morning before he was tossed after getting into a scrum with five Panthers defensive backs and a coach.

Wideout Kendrick Bourne, the darling of the newbies last season and off to a slow start this summer, was also tossed for joining in the melee. Bourne was also screamed at by Belichick about 10 minutes earlier when a referee forced him to leave a play due to an equipment issue.

The tight ends? Nothing memorable happened.

And the running backs, probably my favorite group on this Patriots team, are there for window dressing due to the fact there is not much hitting after the line of scrimmage.

While everyone adores these workouts, the one-on-one battles, etc., it is not real football.

There is no scoreboard. and the hitting, which is one of the reasons America adores the game, is null and void.

Which brings us back to Mac Jones and the offense.

While the Belichick coaching "issue" becomes settled at some point, with, I'm predicting, Patricia taking the reins, the offense — really the new offense — is going to need a little more time.

Here's the good news:

There is time, as in 25 days before the opener; and another 2 1/2 months until Thanksgiving, when we always have a much clearer idea of where this group and team is headed.

To be honest, the Patriots' offense wasn't the problem last year. The defense was.

Remember those last two games against the Bills on Dec. 26 and in the Wild Card game on Jan. 15?

The Bills didn't punt once. In either game.

There were other games — see two against the Dolphins — when the Patriots defense couldn't get Tua Tagovailoa off the field for a potential Mac Jones fourth quarter comeback.

I agree the Pats offense isn't up to snuff on Aug. 17, 2022. and yesterday was maybe a grade better (C+) than it's been.

Let's wait until the games are real, when runners run the ball and defenders hit them, oftentimes hard.

That wasn't the case yesterday. It hasn't been the case all summer.

Friday night will be different. But it will only be the first quiz. My advice is don't come away with any certitude, one way or the other. It's only a quiz.

Take it from someone who knows, quizzes don't count as much as exams do.

You can email Bill Burt at bburt@eagletribune.com.