After moving into Alabama’s starting lineup when Tua Tagovailoa got hurt in 2019, quarterback Mac Jones became the first player in school history to throw for 4,000 yards in a season, earned consensus All-American recognition and led the Crimson Tide to an undefeated record and the CFP national championship in 2020.

Jones made a solid transition to the NFL after the New England Patriots chose him 15th in the 2021 draft. He started every game, played in the Pro Bowl and helped the Patriots return to the postseason after they’d missed the playoffs the previous year.

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But 2022 didn’t bring the second-year jump for Jones. He missed three games and most of another because of an ankle injury, New England missed the playoffs and the Patriots’ offense sank to 26th in the NFL in yards gained with former defensive coordinator Matt Patricia calling the plays for the first time.

In 2023, Jones has an objective, which he shared with Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated.

“I think that’s a big thing for me — keeping it loose and going out there and slinging it,” Jones said. “Going back to the Alabama Mac.”

During a Monday appearance on “Jones and Mego” on WEEI-FM in Boston, Jones explained what being Alabama Mac meant.

“Continuing to work hard and be myself and going out there and distributing the ball,” Jones said. “We have great playmakers here, and I feel like I did my best at Alabama when I just got the ball to other people and let them make plays. That’s what it all comes down to. It’s pretty simple. Just be a point guard and let them go make all the plays and score the touchdowns, and then celebrate with the offensive line.”

Rediscovering Alabama Mac, Jones said, is made easier by working with new offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien. New England’s offensive coordinator in 2011, O’Brien went on to serve as the head coach for Penn State and the Houston Texans and the offensive coordinator at Alabama before returning to the Patriots this year.

Although O’Brien did not coach Jones at Alabama, his familiarity with the Crimson Tide has helped the offensive coordinator and quarterback connect, Jones said.

“It’s super unique because it’s the Patriots, but it’s also, for me, it’s Alabama, too,” Jones said. “Not to bring up the past too much, but, like, he’s seen the system I ran at Alabama, we’ve talked about it, and then obviously what he did here early on — 2007 or whenever it was — in those years, so he has a lot of knowledge of not only this system but Alabama’s system and things I’ve done in the past. That’s cool for me. …

“It’s definitely a partnership. You want to be able to work together, regardless of who your coach is every time you go out there, to have the trust in him and then him to trust you to do the right thing, so still building that. We have a lot of stuff we have to work through, but at the same time I’ve been like really pleased with a lot of the progress we’ve made from before OTAs to OTAs to training camp to kind of putting it into a game.”

Being locked in with O’Brien extends to the rest of the offense for New England’s quarterback, Jones said.

“It’s all about the quarterback and getting us into the right play,” Jones said. “But it’s also all about everybody else because everybody has to be on the same page. It takes 11 guys, and we’re trying to grow that part of it and kind of get back to what we can do really well in having multiple plays run at one time and things like that, so it’s all a part of the journey, and we’ll just continue to expand on that so we can have the most success possible for that play.”

During his Tuesday afternoon press conference, Jones said his description of Alabama Mac wasn’t meant to imply that he was trying to play fast and think less. Alabama Mac is a “smart player.”

“I think the big thing is just using your tools,” Jones said. “The defense can do whatever they want, so just trying to use your toolbox to make sure we get in the right play and all that stuff. That’ll get easier as the season goes along because you see more looks.”

After not playing in New England’s 20-9 loss to the Houston Texans on April 10, Jones got his first preseason action in the Patriots’ 21-17 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Saturday.

Jones completed 6-of-9 passes for 52 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions during his 18 snaps.

New England’s first series started at the Green Bay 18-yard line because of a fumble. Jones had a 4-yard scramble and two completions as the Patriots capitalized on the field position with a touchdown.

The second series started at the New England 8. Running back Rhamondre Stevenson got the Patriots out of the hole with a 23-yard run, but a third-down sack forced a punt.

For Jones’ final series on the field, the quarterback had third-down completions for gains of 15 and 17 yards to move New England to a first down at the Packers 27-yard line. But Jones lost a fumble on sack.

“I though Mac did a solid job,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said on Monday. “Both quarterbacks did. I mean, again, when you’re out there with 10 other guys, no matter what position you play, there’s an element of the team operation, so quarterbacks, receivers, offensive line, protection, running backs, blocking, etc., it all goes together.

“The biggest part of growth for our team is just everybody working together and improving our timing, not necessarily communication in terms of what to do but just seeing things the same way so that we can react to them the same way. That just comes through repetitions and a lot of snaps and some experience doing it.

“Mac’s done a good job in his role on that, but there’s other things that he can’t control. There’s other people that he’s out there with that have to get used to him, he has to get used to them. We’ve worked some of these things together, but there’s some new things we’re doing, and a couple of new players, obviously, that just take a little bit of time to break in and get that timing and, I would say, seeing it the same way down.”

New England will conclude its preseason schedule by visiting the Tennessee Titans at 7:15 p.m. CDT Friday. NFL Network will televise the game.

“I try to just focus on just getting better and staying on my process, right?” Jones said. “I think a lot of the good players in the NFL do that. During preseason, you might not be getting all of the reps, you might not be getting in the game as much, but you have to still focus on what’s ahead but also focus on the now.”

The Patriots will kick off their regular season on Sept. 10, when the Philadelphia Eagles visit Foxborough, Massachusetts.

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