The day before training camp started for Mac Jones’ second season as New England’s quarterback, Patriots coach Bill Belichick lauded the former Alabama All-American.

“He’s made tremendous strides,” Belichick said. “He did a great job last year, but he’s starting from a much, much higher point this year than where he started last year. His offseason work has been significant, and I think everyone recognizes how well he prepares and how much further along he was than he was a year ago. … We’re nowhere close to being where we want to be or where we need to be, but we’re definitely making progress.”

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But progress is exactly what Jones thought he did not make during the 2022 NFL season.

With a victory on Sunday assuring a playoff position, the Patriots instead lost to the Buffalo Bills 35-23 to end their season. When asked after Sunday’s game if he was satisfied with his progress in NFL Year 2, Jones answered: “No.”

And Belichick sounded less effusive on Monday in his end-of-season press conference than he had been in August at his start-of-training-camp press conference.

“Mac has the ability to play quarterback in this league,” Belichick said when asked if Jones would be the New England QB in 2023. “We have to all work together to try to find the best way as a football team, which, obviously, the quarterback is an important position, to be more productive than we were this year. So that’s incumbent upon all of us. We’ll all work together on that. Again, look for better results.”

With their season over, Jones’ teammates sounded off more solidly in support of the signal-caller:

· Center David Andrews said: “He’s battled all year. Faced some adversity, dealing with injury — part of this business and league. He battled all year, so appreciate the fight and the effort he put forth this week and all year.”

· Running back Damien Harris said: “He’s an ultimate competitor. He’s an ultimate leader, ultimate teammate, ultimate friend. Having the opportunity to play with him in college and then come here and just continue to watch him progress, watch him grow, it’s been special to watch.”

· Wide receiver DeVante Parker said: “He’s a tough guy. He got a lot of toughness in him. He trusts us. You know, you saw it today: Just throw it up, 50/50 chance. We keep making plays, and it just gives him a lot of confidence in us.”

· Guard Cole Strange said: “I know he’s got a really, really great work ethic. There was like so many times where I remember I was here ridiculously late for no reason, you know, like later than I should have been, and he was still watching film or something or getting treatment. He’s got a really great work ethic. I got a lot of respect for him.”

As a rookie, Jones started every game, including a playoff contest, and played in the Pro Bowl as an injury replacement. In 2022, he missed three games and most of another because of an ankle injury sustained on the New England offense’s last snap in a 37-26 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 25.

The Patriots replaced Jones with Brian Hoyer. But the veteran went out with a concussion on the second series of his first game, leaving rookie Bailey Zappe at quarterback until Jones returned against the Chicago Bears on Oct. 24.

That game is what New England wide receiver Jakobi Meyers remembered about Jones and the 2022 season. Jones started but played only three series in a 33-14 loss before giving way to Zappe. Jones’ last play was an interception with the Gillette Stadium crowd chanting for Zappe. Belichick said afterward that Jones wasn’t recovered enough to play the whole game, but he did take every offensive snap for the rest of the season.

“He just showed who he was as a person, honestly, not even just a football player,” Meyers said about Jones in the 2022 season. “I know one of my memories from the year was just seeing him out there playing while you hear other people chanting another quarterback’s name. That’s something tough to deal with, but he didn’t really complain. He strapped his chin strap up the next play and went back to work, so I’m proud of him.”

From 2021 to 2022, Jones’ rate of touchdown passes dropped from 4.2 to 3.2 percent, his average gain per pass fell from 7.0 to 6.3 yards and his completion rate dipped from 67.6 to 65.2 percent (although Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow is the only passer to complete passes at a higher rate than Jones in his first two NFL seasons). Jones’ interception rate was 2.5 percent in each season.

“You want to win every game that you play in,” Jones said after Sunday’s loss. “You want to win the tough ones and all that. We didn’t get a chance to do that. As a quarterback, put the blame on me.”

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New England scored 98 fewer points and won two fewer games in 2022 than it did in 2021. But the downturn in the Patriots’ offense among the NFL’s 32 teams from No. 5 in scoring in 2021 to No. 17 in 2022 came with former Patriots defensive coordinator and Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia calling the plays, instead of longtime New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who departed after the 2021 season to become the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.

At his end-of-the-season press conference, Belichick was asked how the decision to put Patricia in that position looked now.

“Every decision that we’ve made has always been made with the intent to do the best thing for the football team,” Belichick said. “That’s the way it always will be. That’s what it’s been; that’s what it’ll be going forward. At different decision points, you have different opportunities, and as those go along or come along, we’ll continue to evaluate them and always do what we feel is best for the team.”

But Belichick also said “certainly something we need to do is score more points.”

Would that mean a change in the offensive coaching staff this offseason?

“We’ll evaluate everything that we’ve done,” Belichick said. “From me on down to everybody else and evaluate things and make improvements where we feel like we can. Again, there were a lot of positive things over the course of the year in all areas that we can build on. But in the end, it wasn’t what we want it to be or need it to be. So that’ll all be — we’ll look at everything.”

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