New England’s playbook under new offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien, as described by Patriots QB Mac Jones “puts a lot on their plate” for the NFL team’s quarterbacks.

The former Alabama All-American is working with the former Alabama offensive coordinator for the first time after O’Brien left the Crimson Tide to return to the NFL this offseason.

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“Mac has done a really good job,” O’Brien said on Friday. “He’s worked extremely hard. I’ve really enjoyed coaching him.

“I said to somebody earlier that asked a question: It’s one of the better quarterback rooms I’ve ever been a part of. They work very hard. They’re very smart. They’re good guys. They care about winning. And they’re here early in the morning and they stay late to get the job done. It’s been a great group to be around.”

Jones is preparing for his third season as the Patriots’ No. 1 QB, with 2022 backup Bailey Zappe returning, too. New England also has Trace McSorley in its quarterbacks room.

O’Brien’s plan will be Jones’ third since he entered the NFL.

As a rookie, Jones went to the Pro Bowl and the Patriots went to the playoffs running offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ complex scheme.

When McDaniels left after the 2021 season to become the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, New England coach Bill Belichick didn’t replace him. Instead, the Patriots sought to simplify their offense with offensive-line coach Matt Patricia calling the plays. The results proved unsatisfactory, and Belichick brought O’Brien back to a position he had held in 2011.

With O’Brien, the complexity of the offense has returned, too, and that means more responsibility for New England’s quarterback before the snap on each play.

O’Brien said the days are long gone when an NFL team could stick with the play called in the huddle every time and expect to succeed. And that means the play-caller has to trust the quarterback to make the right read within the system.

“We have a lot of trust in Mac,” O’Brien said. “Mac puts a lot of time in. Mac’s very prepared every day. We have a lot of trust in Bailey. We have a lot of trust in Trace. When you watch these guys, if you were here on a daily basis, you’d see the time that they put in.

“And as players, they trust that we’re putting that time in, too, so when we approach a meeting and we go into a meeting and we talk about, ‘OK, it’s this or that,’ relative to a play choice or whatever it is, we’re teaching it, and then we go out on the field and they’re trying to execute it at the highest level through their preparation, that’s what builds the trust. And really trust is — you can apply that to every relationship that you have, right? They have to trust that you’re doing the best for them to put them in the right position, to put our offense in the right position. And then we have to trust that they go out there with their preparation that they’re able to do those things.

“And I think in football, nowadays, it’s very rare if you think you’re going to just run one play and that’s the play you’re going to run. That’s tough because defenses are so multiple and they do so many different things — not just our defense but all defenses — so we have to take that approach. I think these guys have done a really good job with that approach every day.”

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Jones said O’Brien’s scheme gives the quarterback the information and options to play faster.

“I think there’s still things we need to work on, but I do think that the rules and standards have been set,” Jones said. “So we just have to meet that as players. I think the coaches have done a great job. OB lays out the operation times, what we’re trying to get out of a play, all that stuff — the why behind a play – so he definitely lays it all out there. We’ve just got to go out there and try each day to clean it up each day and then also get a little bit faster, too, right? You want to play fast. You want to be precise and all that as well. …

“I do think that this system allows a quarterback – puts a lot on their plate – but it also allows us to know what to do to play really fast, so I think it’s a great system.”

New England defensive back Adrian Phillips said O’Brien had infused “just a lot of confidence” back into the Patriots’ quarterbacks.

“Mac is out here balling, doing his thing,” Phillips said. “… You see it out there, you see the QBs kind of talking a little bit. You can feel them kind of getting their confidence back, and you love to see that.”

The Patriots are scheduled to kick off their three-game preseason schedule at 6 p.m. CDT Thursday, when the Houston Texans visit Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. NFL Network will televise the game.

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