Bedard: Patriots offense has to build off final drive quickly on trip to Vegas

FOXBOROUGH — Well, if you had any doubts, now you know we weren't lying.

The Patriots' (mostly) first-string offense hit the field for all to see for the first time on Friday night against the Panthers and, after a training camp filled with scary practice reports, didn't exactly light the world on fire with their first two drives of the post-Josh McDaniels era.

Six plays, 3 total yards gained. Two punts.

That might be overly generous considering that after Damien Harris' good, hard run for 6 yards on the first play of the game, the Patriots accumulated a total of minus-2 yards on their next six.

Things were going so poorly for the group that you could feel the desperation on the Patriots' sideline to find any success as playcaller Matt Patricia conferenced with tight ends coach Nick Caley — the most experienced coach on the offensive staff — to look over the playsheet.

After one of the team's new wide zone running scheme plays went for 1 yard, the Patriots went into "let's just do something that can gain us yards" mode.

A pass 2 yards behind the line of scrimmage to Jakobi Meyers went for 4 yards. 

Putt, putt, putt ....

A pass 3 yards beyond the line of scrimmage to Nelson Agholor went for 7 and the team's first first down of the game with less than a minute left in the first quarter.

Getting there ... engine is catching ...

Incompletion.

Ok, nobody's perfect.

Montgomery takes a handoff and makes a nice move for 6 yards.

That's better.

Uh oh, 3rd and 4 ... but 5 yard completion to Montgomery for another first down.

Cooking with gas now!

And then, boom went the dynamite...

Three plays later, the Patriots' offense had a bonafide touchdown as you could feel the collective breath of New England, especially Patricia, exhale.

And Jones and the rest of the starters exited stage right.

There's no question that the final drive was big.

"Yeah, it was a little bit of a rocky start, but that's kind of how it goes when you haven't played for a little bit," said Jones, who might have been poking at the decision to sit the starters against the Giants. "You've just got to continue to play, and the guys on our team, we came together, kind of operated, didn't freak out or anything, just carried on and get our mojo back and keep everything going forward. It was a good drive."

The big question now is what they do next. Because the clock is ticking very loudly on this group.

"Yeah, good to string some plays together," Belichick said. "Wish we could have done that earlier, but it was good to finally get that done."

The Patriots have wasted enough time in this camp — they've been at this over three weeks now — on figuring out how the coaches are going to work things, what kinds of new plays and language they're going to use that it's obvious they are behind. Do you think, if McDaniels was back with Jones and all the free agents brought in last year now in their second season, that they would be bumbling and stumbling for two drives in the second preseason game? Do you think they would have watched the opener against the Giants? The answer is, of course not.

With a rookie QB (whose reps were lessened due to a QB competition with Cam Newton) had a host of new players into the system, McDaniels worked miracles getting this offense sixth in the league in points. And other year with the Patriots, even with people leaving for other jobs, the Patriots would have built off the previous season. They obviously have not. They are behind. This should have happened a week ago.

But all is not lost ... if they can put together two good practices in Vegas against the Raiders.

That drive gave them some momentum. Now they need to build off it. Tom Brady isn't around here anymore. Neither is McDaniels, Dante Scarnecchia and Ivan Fears. You can't pretend this is 10 years ago and find comfort knowing that even with two weeks to practice after the Raiders game, the Patriots have enough time to get behind closed doors away from the media and can suddenly morph into a good offense. You could say that in the past with Brady, McDaniels et al. You can no longer say that with Matt Patricia and Joe Judge feeling their way as much as the players, if not moreso.

That's why this week is so crucial. 

The first thing they need to do is settle on a starting offensive line. Trent Brown should be back, but if Isaiah Wynn isn't ready to go, they need to decide whether or not Mike Onwenu is the guard they keep hoping he is, or is he really just a right tackle (looked pretty good there against the Panthers)? Then they need to figure out right guard, because the rest of the line is ready to roll. And they need to get that group as many reps as possible.

Then they need to figure out what is going on with the receivers, specifically Kendrick Bourne, who was not seen on Friday night even though his locker was open and his uniform on his pads in it (usually a sign a player was expected to play).

And then Patricia, Judge and Belichick need to get with Jones and David Andrews and figure out what direction they want to go with the offense. The buy-in seems to have improved this week, but they need to be all systems go for Miami, and that starts with getting the two leaders to buy into the vision.

And then go out and have two kick-ass practices against a pretty good team that should be a mirror image to them. It would look pretty bad if McDaniels, who is acclimating everyone in black to his scheme, has a strong week while the Patriots are still tripping over themselves in the backfield.

It's not too late for these Patriots, but it's getting very late.

Hopefully that was a drive to somewhere better for Mac Jones & Co.