The New England Patriots OTA’s kick off this week! On Tuesday’s Felger and Mazz, the guys discussed what they would be watching for as the OTA’s get underway!

• Audio

• #1 Mac Jones and Bill Belichick

  

  Aug 19, 2021; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick with quarterback Mac Jones (10) against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

• Felger: If you were one of these scribes going down there, Mazz, and had to watch practice, what would you be watching and what would you be reporting? What would be your story?

  Mazz: Number one would be interaction between Mac Jones and Bill Belichick.

  Felger: Bingo.

  Mazz: Top of the list. And then from that standpoint, frankly, I would focus probably more on Jones than on Bill because we haven’t seen Jones in a while. Nobody’s seen him. He hasn’t been out on the field. The end of last year he was really pissed off, he was unhappy, disgruntled, call it whatever you want, there were all of those things. And I think any chance this team has had success, the first thing that has to happen is Mac Jones is going to be back on board. So that’s to me, I’m starting there. And it starts with Bill, his relationship with Bill.

  Felger: Body language interactions with Bill Belichick, number one.

• #2 Is Bailey Zappe getting any reps?

  

  Oct 9, 2022; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Bailey Zappe (4) throws a pass during the first half against the Detroit Lions at Gillette Stadium. Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

• Felger: Number two, is Bailey Zappe getting any reps?

  Mazz: Sure. Yep.

  Jim Murray: That’s what I want.

  Felger: Is he getting any first team reps? Is he get any sniff? Because that’s one thing you can glean from these practices. You can’t tell how they’re playing, certainly in shells, you can’t tell, you can’t tell, you can’t tell anything! The only thing you can tell is who’s repping where and you can read into that. So if a guy’s getting time with the first team, that means the coaches are on to something or he’s trending, whatever. So that’s it.

• #3 How involved is Bill Belichick in the offense?

  

  FOXBOROUGH, MA – SEPTEMBER 09: Head coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots shakes hands with head coach Bill O’Brien of the Houston Texans after the Patriots defeated the Texans 27-20 at Gillette Stadium on September 9, 2018 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

• Jim Murray: I’d like to see just how much Bill is actually involved with the offense. I’d like to personally read that it’s like all Bill O’Brien and Bill Belichick’s like over there dealing with the defense, special teams and everything else. Wouldn’t you want to hear that if you’re Patriots fan?

  Felger: And what’s Bill O’Brien doing? Is he barking or is it lollipops and show ponies and unicorns?

• #4 JuJu Smith-Schuster and Mac Jones

  

  SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 23: JuJu Smith-Schuster #9 of the Kansas City Chiefs carries the ball for a touchdown in the fourth quarter against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium on October 23, 2022 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

• Mazz: How about JuJu Smith-Schuster and Mac Jones?

  Felger: Sure. How about that one? That’s a good one, Mazz, because there might be a little slight rumble that Mac Jones is sort of shutting him out because he’s a Jakobi Meyers guy and they got rid of Meyers for JuJu Smith-Schuster. We still don’t even know, they had this week because they’re out there, but prior to this week we don’t even know if Mac Jones had thrown with JuJu Smith-Schuster.

• Listen to Felger and Mazz from 2-6 every Monday-Friday on 98.5 The Sports Hub, with hosts Mike Felger, Tony “Mazz” Massarotti, and Jim Murray “Big Jim”. You can listen live in the Sports Hub App and subscribe to their podcasts here. Follow @FelgerAndMazz on Twitter to keep up with the show!

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