FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Quick-hit thoughts and notes around the New England Patriots and NFL:

1. Mac’s edge: Patriots owner Robert Kraft said in March that quarterback Mac Jones was “respectful of coming in as a rookie” last season and that he believed Jones “has a little more edge that we’ve seen.”

It’s showing now.

The Patriots have two weeks remaining in their offseason program — with a three-day mandatory minicamp scheduled for Tuesday-Thursday this week — and Jones’ increased leadership has caught his teammates’ attention.

“It’s just at another level now,” receiver Kendrick Bourne told ESPN. “He’s more comfortable, more confident. He knows what’s going on, and the muscle memory is there [from having gone through it] — OTAs, then camp, and the season. He’s just more locked in, more secure in his position.”

As a result, Jones is positioned to become a team captain in just his second NFL season. If that’s the way it unfolds when players vote near the end of training camp, it would put him in rare company, joining Jerod Mayo and Devin McCourty as the only other Patriots to earn a second-year captaincy in Bill Belichick’s 23-year tenure as head coach.

“He connects with all the players really well. I’m proud of that dude, because it’s not easy,” said Bourne, who was among the visitors at Jones’ house for a hibachi party during the first night of the NFL draft. “Going into his second year after having a year like that, it’s going to be a challenge, but he’s a guy that likes challenges, like all of us in that Patriot building.”

Jones’ increased comfort level has manifested itself at practice when demonstrating to his pass-catchers what he’s looking for in their routes. At one point on Tuesday, he split out wide and ran a route as wide receivers watched intently.

Highlighting a top observation from Patriots practice: Mac Jones’ growing comfort level with WRs to express what he is looking for route-wise.

This video from Tuesday, after DeVante Parker takes a rep, shows one example.

Rolling the route, instead of a sharp cut, was emphasis. pic.twitter.com/miHqn728bH

— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) June 1, 2022

“He’s a young guy but he’s developed as a leader. That’s what this team needs,” said receiver DeVante Parker, now in his eighth NFL season and first in New England after being acquired in a trade from Miami. “I’ve only been here a few weeks, but I still see it.”

Added veteran cornerback Malcolm Butler: “He has great energy on and off the field. His confidence, his swagger — I love that about him.”

2. Balancing act: Starting safety Adrian Phillips arrived in town last week to take part in the final couple of weeks of the team’s offseason program. He said he felt it was the right thing to do, even though it wasn’t easy leaving his wife, Camille, and their 8-month-old son, Dylan, back in Texas. Camille, a doctor, has a demanding job.

“I was at home being a dad and house husband,” Phillips said. “I’m sad that I’m away from him for an extended period of time, because this time is so pivotal. But I FaceTime with him every day and make sure he doesn’t forget my face.”

3. Post-McDaniels era: How has the transition been without Josh McDaniels at offensive coordinator? Spending time with Bourne last week at the 47th annual Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Massachusetts Golf Classic, he shared one player’s perspective.

“It’s been dope so far. Joe Judge, our newest member [of the staff], he’s doing a great job,” Bourne said. “Really just new terminology, new words. Football is football, so it’s just about learning the new words, and getting the old words out. And it’s applying my abilities to the new system.”

How much the Patriots’ system actually changes — versus how much the staff is focusing on experimentation — is one of the greatest areas of intrigue surrounding the team.

“I think [Judge is] putting us in position to be successful. I’m excited so far,” said Bourne, adding that his abilities as a rusher (12 carries, 125 yards, 10.4 average in 2021) have been among the personal highlights. “Hopefully we’ll have a great year. We’ll see how it goes.”

4. CB questions: If there’s one position that stands out when asking the question “Do the Patriots have enough?” it’s outside cornerback. Veterans Butler and

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What you need to know about the New England Patriots:

Real Madrid couldn’t get the ball out of their own end, facing 10 shots in the first half alone. Thibaut Courtois made a series of acrobatic saves just to keep the match goalless.

And yet, Madrid were precisely where they wanted to be.

Liverpool outplayed their rivals for large parts of Saturday’s Champions League final, but outplaying Madrid has rarely been enough this season. Los Blancos beat Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, and Manchester City despite playing, at most, an hour of dominant football across the entire knockout stage. It stood to reason they’d prove just as indestructible against Liverpool.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side reached the showpiece event at the Stade de France playing possum. Like a boxer absorbing 11 rounds of brutality, it lived long enough to land the knockout punch in the 12th and final stanza. Madrid chose to suffer for long stretches, knowing they could manage games on the back foot until they could carve out moments, however transient, of their own.

Ancelotti needed Courtois to stand tall, and he did, making 59 saves in all to shatter the single-season Champions League record. He needed Dani Carvajal to clear the zone, as he did before Luis Diaz could get his head to the ball in the second half. He needed Casemiro to win fouls – even when he looked like the culprit. He needed the backbone to bend but not break.

Then, in short, concentrated bursts, Madrid’s stars did their thing, just as Karim Benzema did when he scored three goals in 21 minutes to eliminate PSG and as Rodrygo did when came off the bench to score twice after the 90th minute against City. This time, it was Vinicius Junior who converted one of Madrid’s only two shots on target Saturday to win Los Blancos their 14th European title.

Madrid’s reactive approach paid dividends. It allowed them to conserve energy through the season and enter the final run of fixtures as fresh as possible. Pressing high, as some of the best teams in Europe love to do, would’ve done more harm than good. Going full-tilt was simply not an option for this aging unit. A game of instinct, intellect, and intuition better suited this collection of stalwarts.

It also helped to be crowned La Liga champions by the end of April. Madrid went the last three weeks of the campaign without a game of significance. They took in the Iberian sun while Liverpool slogged through four emotionally charged fixtures in 12 days, including a final that went to penalties. The Reds couldn’t possibly maintain the same intensity in their 63rd match of the season that they had even a month ago.

So Madrid knew they’d get an opportunity to punish Liverpool when they inevitably dropped off in the second half.

Their chance came in the last 15 minutes of the first half and the opening 15 minutes of the second half. Madrid controlled 60% possession in that half-hour block, wresting control from Liverpool as they sought a breather before the interval and then again as they jockeyed to reset the tempo at the start of the second. As Luka Modric stretched Liverpool’s backline, sending one long ball after another, the Merseyside outfit finally cracked. Vinicius caught Trent Alexander-Arnold napping at the back post, and that was it.

Just like that, Madrid’s window of opportunity slammed shut.

Madrid captured another fleeting moment, seizing it with both hands as it threatened to hurtle past them. They created precious little after that. Liverpool finished the game strong, forcing another four saves out of Courtois in the final 30 minutes, but found Madrid in too comfortable of a position to unnerve them.

Jurgen Klopp can still feel proud of his team’s performance in Paris. Liverpool didn’t do anything wrong. They just paid the price for relentlessly pursuing a historic quadruple. Playing so many games – especially at the business end of the season – worked against them. Ultimately, they lost to a team that preys on any sign of weakness, and it showed up, ever so briefly, in the middle of a European final.

Madrid, on the other hand, demonstrated a different and equally satisfying way to win. They didn’t scheme their way to Paris or discover a new tactical blueprint for success. Ancelotti simply let his players show their quality. He put power back in the hands of the men on the pitch.

Ancelotti didn’t say anything particularly inspiring. In fact, he told reporters he was the “most nervous person” in Madrid’s dressing room before kickoff.

“I went to my room so the players couldn’t see me,” he added.

That’s because he didn’t have to say anything. The players have been there and done that. Ancelotti decided to step aside and relieve his team of any tactical burden, and it worked wonders.

“The players never doubted at any minute they wouldn’t win this competition,” the manager said.

Ancelotti’s hands-off approach is so refreshing, unusual, and at odds with today’s style of management. But it’s precisely this level of self-awareness – to know when to speak up and when to hide from view – that enables Madrid to do special things. An accomplished side like this doesn’t need a pep talk or lesson on the tactics board before big occasions.

“When I saw all those players – Karim, Carvajal, Modric – playing cards a few hours before the game, I thought, ‘Wow. Well, there’s calmness anyway,'” substitute Dani Ceballos told The Guardian’s Sid Lowe.

It’s unbelievable to think a team can have such confidence. Then again, Madrid are no ordinary club. It’s why we’ll never see another team replicate this run. Unless, of course, it’s Madrid themselves that do it all over again.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The New York Giants defense will look different this season, which isn’t a bad thing considering it ranked 21st overall last year. When teams wanted — and needed — to score on them, they usually did.

The Giants were outscored 79-0 in the final two minutes of first halves in 2021. They were spared even more embarrassment because the opposition usually didn’t need to do it again in the final two minutes of the game during a 4-13 season that included 10 double-digit losses.

Defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale inherits a group that pressured opposing quarterbacks on just 24.2% of dropbacks last season, fifth worst per NFL Next Gen Stats. General manager Joe Schoen addressed the issue, using the fifth overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft on edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux to headline what is expected to be an aggressive defense that relies on the perception of pressure from all over the formation to stress opposing offenses.

“You want to dictate to the offense instead of sitting there and letting them dictate to you,” Martindale said last week. “I think this is a game of adjustments and matchups and everything else, but I would rather them have the headache and stay up five nights before we play them figuring out what we’re going to do and [we will] try to present different looks every time we play, because pressure does break pipes. That’s our philosophy.”

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What you need to know about the New York Giants: