After 28 years as an NFL head coach, Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots seems to have some press-conference answers that he could have printed and handed out to save time.

Such as with the depth chart during training camp and the preseason.

“Everybody is out here competing, all 90 guys,” Belichick said on Tuesday. “That’s what we’re all here for is to go out and compete.”

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Asked if that implied Mac Jones might not be the opening-game starter at quarterback, Belichick reiterated: “Everybody is out here competing. Everybody is out here competing. That’s what everybody is doing.”

But beyond Belichick’s rote answer, reports from the Patriots’ practices indicate Jones is doing the work of a No. 1 QB, and the former Alabama All-American is talking like a No. 1 QB.

“At the end of the day, the speed of the pack is the speed of the leader,” Jones told NFL Network from the field in training camp on Wednesday, “so you got to come out here early and be on time, stay late and work with the receivers, running backs, offensive line snapping balls to us, so just a full operation. For us, we just got to be consistent and do it every day.”

And Belichick told SiriusXM NFL Radio that Jones had prepared to be the leader.

“Mac had a good offseason,” Belichick said. “He’s one of our offseason award winners. First and last out of the building, really does a good job of being on top of everything that we’re doing, so he can lead from the quarterback position in terms of play-calling and those type of things.”

One year ago, Belichick didn’t face any questions about Jones being the opening-game starter for the 2022 season. Jones had gone to the Pro Bowl as a rookie after the Patriots reached the playoffs.

The major question for Belichick last year was: Who would call the plays for Jones after the departure of offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to become the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders?

It turned out to be Matt Patricia, the former New England defensive coordinator back with the Patriots as the offensive-line coach after a stint as the head coach of the Detroit Lions. Belichick never did get around to having a titled offensive coordinator last season.

It was, in the words of team owner Robert Kraft, an experiment that didn’t work. New England dropped from sixth in scoring in 2021 to 17th in 2022 among the NFL’s 32 teams. Jones went from 22 TD passes to 14 as he missed three and one-half games because of an ankle injury.

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New England has an offensive coordinator this season. Belichick tabbed Alabama offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien for the post, which he’d also held for the Patriots in the 2011 season.

“Bill did a great job for us here,” Belichick said, “and I think that led to his opportunity at Penn State, which he did a good job there for two years and then that led to the Houston opportunity, so Bill’s smart, has a real passion for football, and I think has a combination of offensive skill and toughness, so his team’s always, whether it be here or anywhere else they were, they also had a level of tough, hard-nosed, which not all offenses have, especially ones that revolve around a quarterback-type of coach as an offensive coordinator.

“He brings that combination of toughness and skill and explosiveness to a system. But in the end, it’ll be up to us to be able to execute things at a high level against good competition. There’re some good defensive teams on our schedule in this division, and I know we’ll have to play well.”

Jones said working with O’Brien had been “awesome.”

“He demands a lot,” Jones said. “He demands a lot, but he also has a lot of fun, too. It’s not like you’re scared or anything. It’s not like that. It’s like he wants us to be the best we can be, and he wants us to have fun doing it. And most importantly, he wants the players to be out there playing fast, and he just wants to be a guide to make that happen.

“He’s been a head coach, he’s managed teams, he’s managed people, he’s a great communicator. And I think that’s the biggest part, is just communication: Hey, what can I do better? What have I done well? What have I done really bad and how can I fix it or how can I get better?”

The Patriots will open the season against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 10. Before then, New England has preseason games against the Houston Texans on Aug. 10, Green Bay Packers on Aug. 19 and Tennessee Titans on Aug. 25.

“I feel like the team aspect is definitely there, and we definitely improved on that,” Jones said. “Just trying to come together and be brothers. From that point, you can plan for anything, you can have an answer for everything, so, hopefully, that’s the case.”

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