FOXBOROUGH - It's time for a peek behind the curtain or at least mine. I don't care for non-football football talk. For instance, you can take all this conversation about Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift and their relationship and launch it straight into the sun. I feel the same way about Josh Dobbs clapping back at Micah Parsons on TikTok, Instagram, or whatever social media platform the kids frequent these days. My eyes gloss over. My ears suddenly can't hear. Like, stop. STOP.
But when the quarterback of the football team I cover once again finds himself as one of the focal points of the league this week - and not for his play - I'm left with no choice. Of course, Mac Jones doesn't want to address it. He was asked about it after the game, then again during his appearance on the radio on Monday. But the story won't go away, so Jones had to field a question about it during his Wednesday press conference. It went just about the way you think it would.
"Yeah, I think, like I just said earlier, just really focused on the Cowboys, as you can see, just trying to prepare for a good defense," Jones said. "And that's my focus, trying to control the controllables, and looking forward to just building this week. You know, we got practice today, got practice tomorrow, on Friday, so primetime game at a great stadium with a great football culture. So that's what I'm focused on."
I say this all the time. We ask questions we know will only sometimes be answered, but I see it as our job to get the person on the record. However, they choose to respond is on them. But don't expect me not to pick this answer apart. Or at least one part of the answer - "control the controllable." Do you know how best to accomplish that? Don't keep finding yourself in the middle of these kerfuffles.
Remember, it was Mac who wouldn't let go of Brian Burns' ankle, and it was Mac who went spikes up into Jaquon Brisker of the Bears. The fairly deplorable low bridge on Eli Apple during a Bengals fumble recovery and return. That led to a $13k fine from the NFL. Plus, it went over like a fart in church in his own locker room. And now this.
Players from all over the league, present and past, weighed in, whether it be Eagles CB Darius Slay, former Patriot Chris Long, and now, even former teammate Devin McCourty, who gave his take on Jones during his weekly appearance on The Greg Hill Morning show.
"I won't call Mac a dirty player because I know him personally, and I think he's a good dude. He's a good kid. But I will say he has to stop being around these incidents," said McCourty. "Like, it won't matter what any former teammate says, current teammate says. It's getting to the point where, is it on purpose? Did this happen? Is it intentional? Like, it's not going to matter because once you're involved in too many of these situations, it is what it is.
"We can't come back and say, 'No, this isn't what (I) meant to do.' There are a lot of players who have played this game, and they're not involved in any of these things. So I think he does need to do a better job of finding his way out of whatever it is you wanna call it…"
He continued: "I think for anybody, you can't keep defending the same things. So I think he needs to do a better job of that. I don't think he's a dirty player or a dirty person, and I think somewhere along the line in his competitive edge, he's doing things that you don't really need to have on the football field. Ever."
You want your quarterback to be ultra-competitive. I know the best ones are/were. Tom Brady's entire demeanor would change after a loss. Jones hates losing more than he likes winning. You see it on his face and in how he carries himself. The shoulders slump a little. He looks at the floor when he walks. There is nothing wrong with that. Hell, I like it.
But now, in year three, Jones needs to control these odd urges. It could prove costly to his team, first and foremost, but it could also cost him. Most QBs keep their mouths shut or kill their opponents with kindness - read about Andrew Luck's habit of praising defenders for their hits on him - but Jones has even drawn the ire of a former Walter Payton Man of the Year, Calais Campbell. This offseason, he called Jones "kind of disrespectful," adding that "I don't even remember now [what Jones said]." Just trash-talking to the highest level. But it was just, 'You don't trash talk me.'"
Campbell was the defender who injured Jones last year in the Ravens' win over the Pats, costing the signal caller three games with that high ankle sprain. Who knows if the injury could have been avoided, but Campbell did admit that sometimes he goes easier on QBs he likes.
"Be nice because you don't want to get hit."
Jones won't get that benefit of the doubt now, and maybe ever. And he only has himself to blame. It's another roadblock for him as he tries to raise his level of play and that of this team. That is the only thing that should matter, but the QB's actions between the lines don't always measure up to his supposed commitment to "run my own race, and hopefully everyone will follow behind me." Where, exactly, is he leading them?
