FOXBOROUGH - If Mac Jones leads, will anyone follow? The Patriots quarterback has hit rock bottom, he hopes, after back-to-back turnover-filled performances that led to him getting benched (let's call it what it is and not mess around with Bill Belichick's semantics) in blowout losses to the Cowboys and Saints. But for lack of a viable option behind him, the team is standing with their man, at least for now.
"Yeah, we're not making any changes," said the head coach Wednesday morning.
So much for starting over.
Now a beleaguered Jones, who has lost parts of the locker room and a good portion of his huddle, has to soldier on, minus a consistent offensive line and without a single difference-maker at receiver. Good luck.
"Yeah, it's definitely a real thing right when you're not playing too well," said Jones when asked about overcoming self-doubt. "And that same time, there's a lot of things I can do really well. And one of those things is the ability to communicate and be myself. I haven't done that here at times."
Communication was the theme of the day for Jones. He often has talking points that he relies on during his conversations with us. Makes sense, to some degree. You never want to leave too much of an opening. Feed 'em a little, but don't overfill the plates. But there was more honesty from the QB today. Jones isn't stupid. He knows his position is tenuous, at best. He's been told he needs to be better, a lot better. So, he took even more ownership of what's gone wrong beyond just the physical performance, focusing on his interplay with teammates.
"I just need to be consistent with that and, and be Mac,' he said, regrettably referring to himself in third person. "A lot of the guys I have a great relationship with, some of my closest friends, not only on the field but off the field. So, let's carry that into the games. I feel like we do in practice. Obviously, you guys saw that in training camp, like we were out there having fun. And then the game comes around, and we're kind of like, I don't know what it is, you know? It's just I want to go out there and have fun and do our jobs and celebrate with each other. When somebody gets knocked down, pick them back up and all that stuff—so trying to change the narrative there. And really just play football together. It's been frustrating."
The narrative has been right there for all to see on tape if they wanted to look for it. Versus the Jets, no one coming to Mac's defense after C.J. Mosley spiked him into the ground and then the ensuing cup check of Sauce Gardner. Or a week later, when he got drilled by a defensive back on a borderline 'was it dirty or was it not?" hit, Trent Brown turned away instead of rushing over to get the defender out of Jones' face. Or even to help him up. After his pick-6 against New Orleans, Brown was again guilty of bad body language, and friend of Mac, Hunter Henry, threw his hands out in disgust. Not great.
"He's been through a lot of adversity in his own way," said Henry of Jones and why he's still the right man for the job. "Man, I think the proof is in the work. That guy goes to work every single day no matter the circumstances, no matter what is going on around him… we'll continue to ride with him."
"I think we've all had some tough weeks, right? No one's played good enough to win," said David Andrews. "it's a team game. It doesn't fall all on his shoulders. Obviously, being the quarterback that's part of the role, right? Good or bad…win, lose, or draw, it's never one person. This is a team game. And to be good in this game, you have to execute all 11 guys every time, and I'll believe that til the day I die."
That's accurate, but the reality is the leash on Jones is tighter now than it's ever been, reduced link by link til there's barely any room to roam. He's lost that right because of carelessness with the ball, his inability to slow the game down, and his failure to see the field and make the throws he's capable of. Other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln? Knowing what it's looked like and where the 3rd year QB has finished the last two games, I asked Jones if he felt more pressure because he's unlikely to get another crack if he's benched again.
"I always talk about how, really, each week is a new week, and I know it's tough to say that when they kind of looked very similar, but it is. It's a new week, and we didn't play our best. I didn't play my best in the last game, and we've moved on," he said. "Now, it's alright. We've got a really good opponent in the Raiders, and I'm going to focus on – like I talked about – communicating with the guys, having fun, and then doing my part as the quarterback and communicating on the sidelines and all that stuff. So, that will really help. I know it will. It's been proven to do that, and I think that's what I'll focus on and not really focus on the results. The results will come."
They'd better on Sunday, or there's a real chance Mac's days playing quarterback here end in Las Vegas.