FOXBORO -- Mac Jones wasn't ready to stop celebrating.
After throwing a jump-ball touchdown pass to DeVante Parker late in Wednesday's practice, he ran over to his receiver and pointed to the sky. The signal was clear. Parker and Jones elevated for a flying side bump. Jones landed on his feet and danced an extra beat in front of fans in attendance as they roared.
"We had a great talk yesterday about just having fun and competing," Jones later told NFL Network. "In practice you're going to make mistakes, right? Don't let the mistakes bring you down. Just keep moving forward, and when they come up in a game or in a live situation you know what to do... I think a big thing is having fun and I've always tried to do that."
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Three plays later, Jones was at it again. He found JuJu Smith-Schuster for a touchdown in the back of the end zone and bounced from the pocket whirling his arms around like a third-base coach trying to score a runner from first. He got to Smith-Schuster and the two galloped in place while the defense mulled about.
"Honestly, Mac pulls up and we just make up new dances as we go," Smith-Schuster said later. "That was one of many. That dude, he's a spark. He's the spark of our offense. Once that's going, the o-line to the running backs to the receivers to the tight ends, we're all just pouring in. When he's having fun, we're having fun and the confidence level is through the roof."
If the Patriots offense can return to the form that made them a top-10 scoring offense two years ago, we may point back to Wednesday's practice and say that's when we could tell things were pointed in the right direction. It was that unit's best practice through seven training camp workouts thus far. And their reactions to big plays are all you needed to see to tell you that was the case.
Not only was it a fair fight between the offense and defense on Day 7, but the offense gave the defense all it could handle. It's been a long time since that's been the case.
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Almost a year ago, on Aug. 8, the opposite was true. Body language on the offensive side told the story. Players were frustrated. There seemed to be no positive momentum building. David Andrews met with players for a lengthy address after that day's work before heading back into the facility. Things weren't going well. Everyone could see it.
Now? The day-to-day improvement is visible. Players know they're getting better, too. And they're letting you know by the manner in which they're carrying themselves. Never was that more clear than on Wednesday.
Let's get into the details of exactly what kind of day it was for the Patriots offense in our latest edition of The Mac Report...
Number crunching
Mac Jones ended up 11-for-14 in competitive periods as the offense moved steadily throughout the course of the practice. Variety was the name of the game Wednesday. Jones found eight different receivers over the course of the day, including a couple of pass-catchers who've had quiet camps to this point: tight end Mike Gesicki and receiver Kendrick Bourne.
Jones also targeted a potpourri of routes, hitting what looked like two quick outs, one slant, one dig, one deep over, one slip screen, one swing, one flat route, one skinny post to the back of the end zone and one back-shoulder fade in the end zone.
Chemistry coming to life
One of the most positive developments for the Patriots offense has to be the connection that appears to be developing between Jones and Smith-Schuster. It was a tough day for the free-agent receiver addition during the 1-on-1 period. He couldn't shake free of coverage on a few occasions, losing reps to Myles Bryant and Rodney Randle Jr. But in 11-on-11 work, Jones fired one over the middle and into a tight window for Smith-Schuster. Instead of allowing the pass to travel to get to him -- perhaps leaving it vulnerable to being broken up -- Smith-Schuster bent his route back toward the line of scrimmage to go meet the football.
Later, Smith-Schuster described his red-zone touchdown that came as a result of a lot of communication at the line of scrimmage beforehand. Kendrick Bourne went in motion. Jones alerted the call to change the play at the line (something he wasn't allowed to do at times last training camp). The defense changed its plan of attack as well. But soon after the ball was snapped, Jones found a wide-open Smith-Schuster in the back of the end zone for a toe-tapping score.
"The defense, they've been killing us all week, trying to combo us in and out," Smith-Schuster said. "We finally got them on one. It was just good football all the way around... Mac called a good play against a good defensive call, and it worked in our favor."
One-on-one takeaways
If Jones is going to have his confidence built up by anything that happens in the early 1-on-1 periods of practice, he may have liked what he saw from old pal Kendrick Bourne. Though Bourne has rarely been targeted in these first training camp practices, he showed that he can be a problem with his route-running, shaking Jack Jones on two separate occasions to create all kinds of space for easy throws.
Demario "Pop" Douglas is deserving of a mention here as well. He did his best Parker impression by out-leaping Marcus Jones for one 50-50 pass and then later shook Shaun Wade to create oodles of separation. Both had the crowd in attendance audibly impressed.