


Picture Week 1 at Gillette Stadium.
Tom Brady is waving from a luxury box to deafening applause on a muggy afternoon.
The Eagles trot out to a chorus of boos courtesy of a sold-out crowd still stung by Super Bowl LII.
Kickoff arrives, Marcus Jones weaves to the 32-yard line on his return, and here comes the Patriots offense.
What does it look like after a few plays?
Is Mac Jones under center or flat on his back?
Is Kendrick Bourne running into open space with the ball tucked under his right arm or is he frustrated and locked up in man coverage?
Who’s starting on the offensive line? Is it a full complement of healthy starters — as the Patriots hope — or the ragtag group currently sowing deep anxiety across a fan base?
Whatever your vision, some piece of that fantasy has come to life this summer. Over more than a dozen practices and now two preseason games, the Patriots offense is realizing both its highest hopes and worst fears. The unit has become a Rorschach test.
What you see is a reflection of your level of belief in Bill O’Brien and Co. Saturday’s preseason game against Green Bay only reinforced this idea, as the Pats scored a touchdown on their opening drive, then Jones took two sacks that ended their next two possessions. Which series revealed the “real” offense?
All of them did, but you tell me.
Saturday’s first quarter-plus also mirrored what the offense showed in two prior joint practices with the Packers. On Wednesday, the Patriots allowed 13 sacks in live team periods. On Thursday, Jones went 13-of-17, including a 45-yard touchdown to DeVante Parker to knock out the Packers defense in a 2-minute drill.
Jones struck again on his first drive Saturday, hitting a 13-yard slant to Bourne that carried the Pats deep into the red zone. The play was a downfield run-pass option (RPO), the type Bill Belichick and Matt Patricia refused to install last year while they instead bubble-screened opponents to death. Two plays later, at Green Bay’s 7-yard line, O’Brien called a play-action pass.
Remember those?
Last season, the Patriots called the second-fewest play-action passes in the league, per Sports Info. Solutions. They ignored all low-hanging fruit offensively, starting with play-action, the most basic and proven cheat code in play-calling. But enough about 2022.
O’Brien is in charge, he’s picking said fruit, and the taste is sweet. Meanwhile, his depth chart is solidifying nicely.
Jones is the clear-cut starting quarterback. JuJu Smith-Schuster, Parker and Bourne are his top receivers. Another wideout, sixth-round rookie Demario Douglas, is already a made man.
Douglas played just two offensive snaps for the second straight game. He’s earned the right to kick up his feet on cutdown day, especially after converting third-and-10 on his first play in Green Bay and catching a screen pass designed for him on his second. The coaching staff is both running plays for Douglas, and actively hiding him.
Oh, and Douglas caught nine passes — a training camp best among all players — in Thursday’s joint practice. Ho-hum.
O’Brien’s backfield got stronger this week, too. Longtime star Ezekiel Elliott joined Rhamondre Stevenson at practice, where he shouldered an actual workload Thursday; powering his way between the tackles and swinging out for short passes. Elliott is already drawing rave reviews internally.
Everything is falling into place for O’Brien — except his largest and second-most important position group. That position, instead, is falling apart.
Rookie offensive tackle Sidy Sow, a career college guard, got straight-armed into the backfield on the Patriots’ 11th offensive snap and allowed a sack to Packers edge rusher Kingsley Enagbare. One drive later, Enagbare cracked Jones from behind on another drive-killing takedown. Enagbare battered backup left tackle Andrew Stueber, a 2022 seventh-round pick who missed virtually all of his rookie year.
Then, Jones missed the rest of the game. Two sacks allowed on 11 passing snaps was obviously enough for Belichick to pull his starting quarterback. O’Brien had called — and continues to call — games around his patchwork offensive line, but he still couldn’t project Jones.
How much longer can this continue? The current setup is obviously untenable.
Time will heal some of their wounds. Left guard Cole Strange was spotted at two practices last week, and could return next week for joint practices at Tennessee. Right guard Mike Onwenu hasn’t suited up once, as he recovers from offseason ankle surgery, but might be available Week 1.
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Then again, injuries are only partially to blame. In the offseason, the Patriots' front office opted for several cheap, long-odds bets at the position instead of one sure thing. They figured they could protect Jones with cast-offs and late-round rookies instead of a marquee free agent or top pick.
But projected starting right tackle Riley Reiff is now playing right guard in Onwenu's place. Reiff's initial replacement, Conor McDermott, got smoked in the preseason opener and is now injured. Will the Patriots trust Sow can develop fast enough to start in the regular season or pivot back to Reiff?
Does the 34-year-old Reiff, whom the Bears and Bengals declined to re-sign in consecutive offseasons, have enough in the tank? Do the Patriots even have another choice outside of him and Sow? Can their offense survive with such a shaky foundation, while Jones, Stevenson, Parker, Bourne and Douglas thrive?
Picture Week 1.
What do you see?