Patriots offseason has been ‘normal,’ and after last year, that counts for something

Last year was anything but normal, of course, with the offense being led by a couple of fish out of water, Matt Patricia and Joe Judge. The offense was predictably ineffective, and Jones’s relationship with Bill Belichick and the coaching staff appeared to go sideways with on-field outbursts and behind-the-scenes bickering.

But with everyone “starting fresh,” as Jones has put it, this year has gotten off to a calmer start. The nine-week offseason program was noticeably devoid of drama and had plenty of feel-good kumbaya vibes, capped off appropriately Wednesday with Belichick canceling the final day of practice.

“I feel like everyone’s on the same page,” Jones said May 31. “Just got to continue to do it.”

It would be silly to put too much stock into the positivity right now, three months before the regular season begins. But it is at least noteworthy that the turmoil from last year, centering mostly around Jones, Patricia, Judge, and Belichick, seems to have been squashed this year now that O’Brien has come aboard.

Last year’s coaching setup was far from ideal, particularly for an offense trying to find its identity and groom a young quarterback. Neither Patricia nor Judge had ever run an offense, spending most of their NFL years on defense and special teams. Throughout the offseason and into training camp, the Patriots played coy about who was calling plays or was in charge. There was no obvious chain of command beneath Belichick, at least not to us outsiders.

Now, there is no question that O’Brien is the boss of both the offense and the quarterback room. It’s the same setup Josh McDaniels had for 10 years, and O’Brien for three years before that.

O’Brien brings a credibility to the offensive huddle that Patricia and Judge simply couldn’t.

“He has such great experience in this league and in the football world,” Jones said. “It’s like a walking dictionary. Just pick his brain.”

This year, the Patriots have the right coaches in the right spots, with O’Brien running the offense and Judge back running the special teams.

The players seem to appreciate it. Receiver Kendrick Bourne, who was buried on the bench for much of last season as he clashed with Patricia, is in a better frame of mind.

“New year, new me, new us, new everything,” Bourne said. “Bill’s familiar with what he’s doing, so it feels good. You can tell he knows what he’s doing in all areas of the offense, from receiver, running back, lineman … he knows offense a lot, so it feels good.”

The quarterbacks also have had high praise for O’Brien’s offense, their remarks dripping with subtext about last year’s dysfunction.

“I think we’ve done a really good job of installing plays,” quarterback Bailey Zappe said. “Everybody’s been on the same page, and it’s been going very smoothly.”

You’ll remember that from the struggles throughout training camp to Jones screaming at the coaches during games to get plays in quicker, nothing about the offense last year went smoothly.

Jones said he appreciates that O’Brien’s offense gives him the tools to fix problems on the fly — the implication being that last year’s offense was too rigid and unprepared for new challenges.

“I feel there’s things that pop up in practice, issues, and we just try to fix them on the run, or we have tools to do that,” Jones said. “That’s what’s so great about this system; as a quarterback, obviously the most is put on you, but that’s a good thing, because you have tools to kind of fix it. So that’s been good to kind of work some of those things.”

The practice field was noticeably drama-free, at least for the five practices that were open to the media. O’Brien, nicknamed “Teapot” by Tom Brady for his explosive temper, barely made a peep. Jones and Zappe were full participants all offseason, and a majority of the 90-man roster participated in voluntary practices.

The Patriots’ biggest issues were a contract dispute with Lawrence Guy and Trent Brown reportedly missing a day of practice because of hailstorms. That barely even counts as drama in today’s NFL.

“I just think there’s a good juice around the building,” Jones said.

The Patriots now have Bourne, who was miserable last season as his playing time and production dipped, apologizing for his performance and attitude.

“I didn’t give the team my best effort,” Bourne acknowledged last week. “I just wasn’t in a good place. Now I just want to avoid that. So it was a good learning process, it was good that it happened to me, and it’s always good to learn from hard times, struggling times.”

And Jones, who reportedly angered Belichick last year by going behind his back to seek guidance from his former coaches at Alabama, has been effusive in praising O’Brien.

“Everything he’s done so far has been really good,” Jones said. “I think the communication is the most important part, and trust. I think it all starts with that when you’re with a new coach, and he’s done a great job of controlling the room.”

We’ll see if these feel-good vibes continue into the regular season once the stakes are real and the pressure and intensity are multiplied. But the Patriots just completed a “normal,” functional offseason program, and after last year, that counts for something.