NFL Analyst Thinks Patriots Offense Will ‘Major In’ Three Elements

The New England Patriots offense performed as bad as it possibly could a season ago.

And if that unit has any chance of turning things around this season, new offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien will need to do a better job than his predecessor of putting starting quarterback Mac Jones in a better position to succeed.

All indications are that O’Brien won’t replicate Matt Patricia’s mistakes with Jones entering a make-or-break season. And ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky believes O’Brien will use three distinct offensive elements that were missing last year to try to get the best out of Jones.

“I think there’s going to be three things that they’ll try to major in. No. 1, the RPOs, run-pass options,” Orlovsky said on WEEI’s “Jones and Mego” show Wednesday. “Mac ran a lot of those at Alabama, super successful. A decent amount of those his rookie year.”

O’Brien and Jones’ time barely overlapped at Alabama with Jones preparing for the NFL draft when O’Brien came onboard with the Crimson Tide. But with both having intimate knowledge of that system, O’Brien could bring some concepts from it that aids Jones.

Orlovsky thinks O’Brien isn’t going to stop there, though, and will bring back a play design that was a staple for years in the Patriots offense.

“No. 2, way more play action,” Orlovsky said. “I kind of harped on that it felt like weekly last year of the lack of play-action pass. The way I kind of phrased it is the chunk play-action game. … I think Mac is a little bit more suited to the kind of sell it, chunk play actions where you’re trying to hardball people vertically and you get the 10 to 15, 20-yard throws.”

Orlovsky also sees the Patriots trying to give Jones a leg up against opposing defenses before he even snaps the ball

“And then the third thing is the manipulation of formations with your receivers,” Orlovsky said. “I think Mac excelled at his rookie year and again at Alabama, moving receivers into what we would call No. 3 spots — the receiver closer to the football. Kind of a traditional tight end spot. Using those guys to kind of work the middle of the field because Mac’s very good at it.”

Jones and the Patriots have a stiff test right out of the gate Sunday in their season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles at Gillette Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:25 p.m. ET.