Adrian Phillips a valuable resource ... for all of us

FOXBOROUGH - When you speak with Patriots safety Adrian Phillips, you know you’re going to get the truth. It has been that way since he walked in the door during the COVID season, and it’s been a constant ever since. So when he speaks about the offense he’s been facing since the spring, I listen. Thus far, he thinks what Bill O’Brien is presenting is challenging to his side of the ball.

“You never see the same thing twice,” Phillips said. “He has a lot of different guys in different spots and he uses them to the best of their ability. He just dials it up.”

Part of that variety also comes in how the plays are dressed up. It’s been rare at this point in camp to see the offense call a play without some sort of motion or formational adjustment pre-snap. That, says Phillips, can tax a defense.

“It puts a lot of (pressure) because defensively, you have to communicate and all 11 people have to be on the same page,” he noted. “When you start adding those missile motions, the arc motions, the shifts, the hard counts, all that stuff in there, it makes it that much harder and makes the communication that much more vital, because if you don’t communicate, then you got people popping out of the ground 40 yards down the field. We don’t want to see that now but we want to see that during the season.”

While the offense hasn’t been awe-inspiring in camp, Phillips believes you’re looking at a changed mindset from that group, a stark contrast to what it looked and felt like a year ago. In the safety’s eyes, that starts with the signal callers.

“Just a lot of confidence. Mac [Jones] is just out here balling, doing his thing,” he said, before expanding, “Basically, what all the QBs are doing. When you see it out there, you see the QBs talking a little bit, you can feel them get their confidence back and you love to see it.”

That part has been evident. There haven’t been too many noticeable demonstrations of frustration by anyone on the offense, including Jones. Right around this time last year, we were basically having to write or tweet about those moments daily.

As for how Phillips sees the defensive side of the ball shaping up, a big part of this equation is finding a way to replace Devin McCourty. Phillips is one of several players who have been finding themselves playing more centerfield than ever before, and he likes it.

“It feels good,“ he said, adding, “it’s allowed me, and it’s allowed other players to be able to be comfortable being in the middle of the field, seeing how plays develop, seeing what your new keys would look like. I love being back there - I love being on the field period - but it does feel good being back there and show some range.”

That’s part of the challenge. The other: handling the communication. That was one of McCourty’s many strengths, as he had a ton of responsibilities placed on his shoulders. But Phillips is right to remind us of the vast amount of experience that remains on the field with veterans like Jalen Mills, Jonathan Jones, Kyle Dugger and Jabril Peppers.

“There’s still a lot of knowledge out there,” he said. “You don’t have to go straight to Dev like we use to in the past. Now everybody is kind of branching out. You got guys coming to each and every one of us and talking to us, getting different views of how plays are supposed to go and how schemes are supposed to look. So I think it’s going well.”

Even if McCourty’s absence is felt daily.

“We still miss the bald guy, you know? The grumpy, bald guy, but I think it’s going well.”

That free safety position can be a tie that binds together what we all believe is a talented unit capable of big things. Conversely, if the Pats can’t find an answer - be it with one player or a collection of players - that certainly could be one of those things that adversely impacts this group’s overall potential, and ultimately affect the bottom line of wins and losses.