The Mac Report: Jones shows he's on his details in the red zone

FOXBORO -- What a difference a year makes. 

Through six training camp practices, the Patriots have already provided glimpses that they will have some real variety to their offensive attack in 2023. Their top group on that side of the ball has played nearly penalty-free. Getting aligned has not been an issue. They've been on their details. And they've shown real improvement.

Those last two points were evident in the waning moments of Tuesday's non-padded practice. In the red zone, Mac Jones went 3-for-4 with two touchdowns. He found Rhamondre Stevenson on a swing pass out of the backfield for a walk-in touchdown while facing pressure. Two plays later, he hit Hunter Henry on an in-cut with Jabrill Peppers on the tight end's back. After the score, Jones and Henry met for a high five.

They were feeling themselves. And you can't blame them. They understand how difficult it can be to have success inside the 20. They were the worst offense in football in that area of the field a season ago. Just a few days ago, they struggled at times to find openings in the red zone where space is condensed and throwing windows are tight.

To experience some success in a critical spot, against a good defense -- a defense that knew passes were coming because the pads weren't on -- meant something. 

"It's always good to score, man," Henry said. "That's honestly the most important part of the field every single week. You've got to execute and you have to be, kind of, on your stuff down there. To be able to score, we were able to execute today. We've got to be able to be consistent and execute as much as we can. We're going against one of the toughest defenses. They give us so many different looks. It's tough, but it's good for us."

Jones in particular seemed to have a little extra bounce in his step at the end of Tuesday's session. It hasn't been perfect for him or his offense in camp. But on Day 6 they pulled from a variety of schematic buckets -- screens, dropback passes, play-action throws, crossers, downfield shots -- and executed. 

The result was a confident quarterback. It's been some time since we've seen that from Jones, but if that's one of the residual effects of getting Bill O'Brien aboard -- in addition to all he brings from an Xs and Os perspective -- then his addition could be even more impactful than anyone has anticipated. 

Here's more on what we saw from Jones on Tuesday...

Number crunching

Jones went 3-for-4 in 7-on-7 work, which included two completions to Stevenson underneath. In that period, Jones also had one of the odder misses of camp to this point. After scanning the field, working his eyes from left to right, Jones pulled the trigger on a throw across the field from the opposite hash to JuJu Smith-Schuster. The only problem? Patriots corner Marcus Jones was there waiting for the pass. It seemed as though Jones never saw the diminutive corner there, grabbing the top of his helmet with both hands as soon as the pass was broken up.

In 11-on-11 periods, Jones went 7-for-10. He had two more passes broken up in those full-team scenarios. On one, Jones tried to hit tight end Mike Gesicki on an out-breaking route and may have been a tick late with the throw because linebacker Mack Wilson was able to get his hand on the football with an acrobatic, lunging pass breakup. In the red zone, later in the practice, Jones was blitzed and threw off his back foot into tight coverage. The pass was intended for DeVante Parker but was broken up by Jack Jones.

Jones' only other miss was an overthrow on a deep shot to Kendrick Bourne. It looked like Bourne had a step on Marcus Jones down the middle of the field, but Jones was a touch strong in that moment. It was the deepest pass of camp to this point and would've qualified as a resounding reminder of how impactful Bourne, who's had a quiet camp, can be. 

Play of the Day

The Bourne target would've qualified as the play of camp through six days on the field, but it wasn't. The Play of the Day instead then has to be the first pass Jones attempted in 11-on-11 periods.

Understanding he had a one-on-one situation on the outside, Jones lofted a fade to Parker down the left sideline. Rookie corner Christian Gonzalez was all over him in coverage but couldn't knock the football away from the jumping, twisting Parker. The successful jump-ball attempt went for a gain of about 20 yards. Not a bad way to get the full-team periods started.

Separation anxiety

While the offense showed real progress in some regards Tuesday, that unit appeared to continue to have some issues getting receivers open for Jones. Of his 14 competitive attempts on the day, he threw four checkdowns to Stevenson and one screen.

Getting Tyquan Thornton into the swing of things -- using his speed to stress the defense deep and create openings for himself or others -- would help, but that hasn't happened to this point in camp. It's worth noting that, at this point, rookie wideout Demario "Pop" Douglas is getting relatively consistent work with the top offense.