New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick once famously chanted “no days off” to a crowd of fans who had taken the day off of work to watch a Super Bowl parade.

Despite some NFL-imposed days off during the offseason workout program, Patriots quarterback Mac Jones tried to stay focused after a 2022 campaign that didn’t go as anyone in New England hoped.

And he seemed to follow Belichick's teachings this winter and spring.

“I tried to follow like a college-like offseason program,” Jones said Wednesday after New England’s first OTAs practice session. “Just stay on it really early, go on a lot less vacations and just work really hard like all of the other guys are doing. That’s really going to help in the future. Try to do that every year, but it’s really just identifying where you can get better at.

“Confidence comes from years of practice and doing well and also not doing well. Sometimes the most confident people come from a year where they may not have been their best, and that’s where I feel I’m at, and we all feel like that. We’re all hungry, and confidence comes with time, but it’s also something you can look back on too. Not just worrying about things that happened in the past but also focusing on the future.”

Jones took a step back in Year 2 after Josh McDaniels, his rookie-year offensive coordinator, departed to become the Las Vegas Raiders’ head coach. Matt Patricia took over as offensive play-caller and Joe Judge became quarterbacks coach. The one-year experiment went poorly, and Bill O’Brien took over both roles this offseason.

Jones noted again during Wednesday’s media session that he tried to be more dialed in when asked if he needed to cleanse his palate after last season. It was probably wise for him to save up some of his PTO this offseason.

“Coming off a season, you have to recover, right? Your body's a little bit beat up,” Jones said. “And obviously that's everybody. I think there's a mental component to it. But for me, it’s just staying hungry and trying to find the little details, just find the edge and you have to fill up that 99 percent. But you're also looking for that one percent. So, first part of the offseason is a lot of like, what can I do better? What are the really good guys doing? You know, pick some people's brains, don't be afraid to ask questions. Obviously, I'm always trying to learn from our our coaches, our strength staff. They've done a great job this offseason, Moses and everybody trying to get stronger and faster. I’ve been really pleased with those guys. And it's like the different buckets, always talking about the different buckets, but there's mental, physical, emotional. I've addressed all that and everything from last year is a learning experience and the year before, the same thing. So just trying to fill up each bucket the right way.

“And just be consistent — like take out some off days and just stay consistent and grind out.”

Jones clearly looked like the Patriots’ QB1 in practice Wednesday over Bailey Zappe. And he was perfect in competitive 11-on-11 drills. New England needs Jones to take a massive leap from last season for the team to be competitive in 2023.

Featured image via Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports