At this point, I think it’s more than fair to say the New England Patriots have become a little bit of an afterthought as it relates to the 2023 NFL season. Especially when it comes to their own division in the AFC East.
The Buffalo Bills look primed to defend their division title in 2023. The New York Jets added Aaron Rodgers and could be a legitimate contender. The Miami Dolphins landed defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and cornerback Jalen Ramsey.
Where does that leave the Patriots? Typically, it leaves them in fourth place of pretty much every prediction for the upcoming season. The Tom Brady days are over. The excitement from Mac Jones’ rookie year when he made the Pro Bowl? That feels like a distant memory.
But the Patriots might have an argument to be made as one of the NFL’s most improved teams in 2023. Why? Mainly for the simple fact that they now have a legitimate offensive coordinator in the building. Last year, it was Joe Judge and Matt Patricia randomly running the offense, a move by Bill Belichick that is really inexcusable when you consider the stage of Jones’s development as a young player.
This year, Belichick realized the error of his ways and brought in Bill O’Brien to coach up the Patriots’ offense and call plays. He will also be Jones’s position coach.
This is a massive development for the New England Patriots and while this is not a team that’s received a ton of positive hype in the 2023 offseason, it sounds like Kirk Herbstreit is banging the drum for the Patriots to be one of the most improved offenses in the league.
And for Mac Jones to be one of the most improved quarterbacks.
Kirk Herbstreit pounds the table for Mac Jones, Patriots in 2023
"I'm 1000% behind Mac Jones and without a doubt that offense will be much improved"@KirkHerbstreit #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/dIpmft6Xko
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) June 22, 2023
A lot of what Herbstreit says in here is hard to argue against. A lot of times, I think NFL fans believe development or progression to be linear year over year, and the same can be said of regression. Once a team or a player starts regressing, oftentimes the expectation is for that to continue into the following season.
But the addition of Bill O’Brien could completely shift the narrative for this Patriots team. It could completely shift the narrative for Mac Jones.
Jones was ridden pretty hard last year by Patriots fans and there was a period of time where people were actually clamoring for Bailey Zappe to be the team’s full-time quarterback. But Jones could be due for a major bounce-back campaign in 2023 and it wouldn’t be shocking in the slightest now that he has some competent coaching on that side of the ball.