Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones (10) and quarterback Bailey Zappe (4) Nov 20, 2022; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones (10) and quarterback Bailey Zappe (4) walk onto the field before a game against the New York Jets at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports

The New England Patriots will have a familiar face in Bill O’Brien as their offensive coordinator this season.

Though O’Brien has coached the Patriots’ offense before, his ways of thinking are still new to his two quarterbacks, Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe.

However, Zappe says the installation of O”Brien’s offense is going better than expected.

“The install has been doing good,” Zappe said Monday, according to Zack Cox of NESN.com. “We’re way ahead of (where) we thought we were going to be. We’re really deep in into red zone, third down, open-field stuff. So I think we’ve just got to keep stacking days and continue just improving on the plays we have in right now. I’m sure there are more plays to be done, but I would say we’re about 80%.”

Head coach Bill Belichick echoed Zappe’s sentiment.

“We’ve got most everything in that we’re going to do,” Belichick said. “We’ve been through every situation on a practice field. We covered most of them in the stadium (last Friday) night. I mean, there’s always more to do, (but) we’ve covered all of the situations. We haven’t covered every single play we’re going to run, but we’re pretty far along.”

While it remains to be seen how the team performs under the bright lights of the regular season, a consistent offense would go a long way toward helping the Patriots win their first playoff game since the departure of Tom Brady.

[NESN.com]