FOXBOROUGH - During his weekly press conference, Bills quarterback Josh Allen fielded precisely one question about the Patriots, referencing Josh Uche and J.C. Jackson. That's it. Meanwhile, his counterpart in New England, Mac Jones, was asked if he was worried about being traded. This is what it's come to. These results seemed so out of reach and so foreign that none of us (I don't think) could have imagined such a scenario this season, but yet here we are. This is a bizarro world, some alternate reality that's been unlocked. Where am I? Who am I covering? This isn't the Patriots that we knew. This organization is in flux, possibly playing out the string sooner rather than later.
"I'm not focused on that right now, honestly," said Jones when asked about the prospects of being dealt. "Just really focusing on just coming together as a team during a tough time and seeing how we respond, seeing how I respond. Definitely excited for the challenge, looking at it in the eyes and taking it head on."
Jones hasn't responded well so far. His season has mirrored the team's. It has been a disaster. He leads the NFL in giveaways (nine), and his passer rating of 74.4 puts him 30th amongst qualified quarterbacks. The offense he fumbles around with has made just ten trips to the red zone (last) and has gone three-and-out 43.7% of the time, second to last in the league. Jones' foibles as a player have shown up in this six-game sample. He has a below-average arm, isn't elusive enough to make plays with his feet often enough, and has become careless with the football. For a smart guy, he sure does make a lot of dumb plays.
Jones was asked today if it was hard to maintain confidence in such trying times.
"Yeah, those are the results," he replied. "What I try to focus on is the process. When you think about trying to make plays, you usually don't, and I think that's important. I think you have to operate within the system, within yourself as a quarterback, and those things will come when you do the process right, but if you're not doing the process right, then you won't get the result."
His choices don't reflect the words that came out of his mouth. Derrick Henry has thrown for more TDs in October than Jones (1-0). You've thrown for the same and aren't even in the league. I don't believe Jones is being disingenuous. But he and Belichick are the faces of this mess, and each bears a level of responsibility. Obviously, Bill is more than Mac, but the QB's inability to play well has stressed a tenuous situation. He was supposed to be a critical support beam in the new foundation post-Brady. Instead, he's contributed to its weakening. That's why the bulldozers and a fleet of people with sledgehammers are standing by.
In the meantime, Jones has no choice but to focus on himself and his process, even if there has no doubt been some temptation to re-examine it as his - and the team's - struggles grow.
"Yeah, that's one of the tough challenges in sports and life, right? Am I doing something so wrong that we're just missing it, or whatever? A lot of the time, you really do have to trust what you know, trust your routine. That's what really good people do. They just stick with it, maybe adjust something here or there, but at the end of the day, they're going to stick to their routine. Like we've talked about, the results will come if you just focus on what you're supposed to do 99 percent of the time."
Jones has repeated that mantra - or something close to it - for two-plus years now. He isn't all to blame for the lack of production, but he can no longer hide behind Patricia, Judge, and that whole cluster. No, this is now part of his story, and the ending - at least in New England - may be near.