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WEST PALM BEACH, Florida – Personally, I like a little bumper-sticker philosophy.
There’s beautiful simplicity in phrases like, "Sink or swim ...” “Lead, follow or get out of the way ..." or “Don’t let the bastards get you down."
If you have a really big bumper, you could even entertain, “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.”
That last one (which I found by googling “optimism quotes”) fits newly-minted Patriots captain Mac Jones like a glove.
The gentleman from Jacksonville has cause for rock-kicking heading into this season. Josh McDaniels, the offensive coordinator who shepherded Mac into the league and helped Tom Brady win three Super Bowls in five years, left to coach the Raiders. The Patriots had no ready and experienced replacement in the system, so they’ve duct-taped a solution.
As a chaser to that adversity, the team’s decided to implement a new offense. It’s not been a smooth transition.
There were plenty of bad plays in camp. Run stuffs. Protection breakdowns. Tipped passes. Picks. There were days it poured adversity and Jones -- who had his brooding moments in his rookie training camp -- showed his frustration a few times.
Still, every time he puts his mouth in front of a mic, Jones is resolute that it will work out. Some have suggested it’s lip service and that “buy-in” still hangs in the balance. Maybe it is. Maybe it does. But it won’t be because Jones didn’t send the message that he believes this unconventional setup will work.
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I asked Jones on Wednesday before the team’s practice at Palm Beach Atlantic University how he’s maintained optimism.
“I think the uncertainty has to clear itself up,” he replied. “That’s just a mentality. It’s all about getting in the right spot and having confidence in one another. We’ve done that. Sometimes it’s not a perfect, clean picture right off the bat when something’s new … but I feel like we’ve made really good strides in practice and the games even, when you really watch the tape to see how close we are.”
Jones hasn’t denied the transition’s been difficult. But one quote from camp that best illustrated his mindset came after a practice in which the offense struggled mightily.
“I’m going to figure it out,” Jones said in early August. “I always have. I always will. At the end of the day, you’re going to have your ups and downs with anything new, but I’ve learned a lot of different systems and the guys around me have too. We know what football looks like, we know what a good play looks like. It just needs to be more consistent. We all trust in each other at the end of the day. When there’s 10 people that look into my eyes, I know they’re going to trust me to do the right thing on game day.”
Jones knows podium sessions aren’t just bull sessions with the media. They can be used to send a message to teammates as well. And coaches.
And it’s apparent he’s doing that.
“We’re just excited to get out there and put it on tape and see what we can do and adjust and just play for one another,” Jones said Wednesday. “That’s all it comes down to. The x’s and o’s are the x’s and o’s but if we play for one another then good things can happen.”
Inevitably, the Patriots offense will improve from the product we’ve seen so far. It has to. There is talent on offense. And, despite the puzzling collaboration arrangement in place, there’s more than enough football brainpower.
Jones makes it sound like they are millimeters away. We’ll start to see Sunday how far they really have to go. However far that is, Jones is pledging to be part of the solution.
“You try to be positive and optimistic and figure out the solution to the issue,” he said when asked his approach. “That’s what every good problem solver does. If there’s an issue or something that doesn’t make sense, they find a way to fix it. That’s what we’re doing and I feel really good with where we’re at. We just gotta do it today. That’s where it starts: have a good day today.”