New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick fielded questions from media members on Monday at the AFC coaches breakfast during the NFL’s annual league meeting for the first time since his season-ending press conference in January.

Fans hoping for insight or reassurance about New England quarterback Mac Jones after a disappointing followup to his Pro Bowl rookie season should have known better.

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When asked if Jones had a firm hold on the quarterback job or would compete with backup Bailey Zappe for the starting spot, Belichick said: “Everybody’ll get a chance to play. We’ll play the best players.”

When asked about Jones’ 2022 performance, Belichick said: “As a team, we didn’t perform very well last year, so we all need to do a better job. That’s all of us.”

When asked what Jones needed to improve to enjoy a better 2023 season, Belichick said: “We talked to all the players individually about the things that they can do, the things that we can do and so forth. I’ll keep that between myself and the individual players.”

When asked about his reaction to Jones’ sideline outbursts during the 2022 season, Belichick said: “We’re looking ahead to 2023 here. I’m not going to go back and rehash ‘22. I think we all can improve — all of us, starting with me and every other player and coach.”

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After an All-American season for Alabama’s 2020 CFP national championship team, Jones joined the Patriots as the 15th pick of the 2021 NFL Draft and won the starting-quarterback spot over incumbent Cam Newton.

Jones started every game as New England posted a 10-7 record and went to the postseason as a wild-card qualifier in 2021. In 2022, the Patriots went 8-9, with a 6-8 mark in games started by Jones, who missed three games because of an ankle injury.

As a rookie, Jones completed 352-of-521 passes for 3,801 yards with 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. In his second season, Jones completed 288-of-442 passes for 2,997 yards with 14 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

Zappe played in four games, with two starts, as a rookie in 2022. He got to play when backup Brian Hoyer sustained a concussion in the first game missed by Jones.

Zappe completed 65-of-92 passes for 781 yards with five touchdowns and three interceptions in 2022, and the Patriots won the two games that he started. He had a passing-efficiency rating of 100.9 while Jones posted an 84.8 showing.

New England dropped from sixth in the NFL in scoring in 2021 to 17th in 2022 after the departure of Josh McDaniels. After his 13th season as the Patriots’ offensive coordinator, McDaniels left to become the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders last offseason.

For the 2022 season, former Patriots staff member, Alabama assistant coach and New York Giants head coach Joe Judge served as offensive assistant and quarterbacks coach, and former New England defensive coordinator and Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia called the plays, although his titles were senior football advisor and offensive-line coach.

For the 2023 season, the Patriots have a titled offensive coordinator with Bill O’Brien coming aboard from Alabama.

“I thought it was the best thing for the team,” Belichick said about his reason for hiring O’Brien.

Asked how O’Brien might help Jones, Belichick said: “Bill’s a good coach. I think he would help any position.”

O’Brien originally joined the New England staff in 2007 as an offensive assistant and served as wide-receivers coach in 2008 and quarterbacks coach in 2009 and 2010. O’Brien added the offensive-coordinator title in 2011.

O’Brien called plays in the final three seasons of his first stint with the Patriots, and New England finished sixth, first and third in the NFL in scoring in 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively.

O’Brien left the Patriots to become head coach at Penn State in 2012. O’Brien came to Alabama in 2021 after being fired four games into his seventh season as the head coach of the Houston Texans in 2020.

Belichick is preparing for his 24th season as New England’s coach. The Patriots have participated in the playoffs 18 times, captured nine AFC championships and won six Super Bowls under Belichick’s guidance.

But after 19 consecutive seasons of winning records that featured a double-digit victory total 18 times, New England has posted losing marks in two of the past three campaigns.

Asked to give New England fans a reason to be optimistic for the 2023 season, Belichick said: “I don’t know. The last 25 years.”

“I think we’ve been pretty competitive every year that I’ve been here with the Patriots,” Belichick said. “That’s our overall plan. I expect it to continue that way. I think the team’s been managed pretty well for the last 20-however many years, so I think we’ll continue managing it in the way we’ve been competitive over the last 20 years, and I expect we’ll continue to be competitive.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.