Mac Jones is going above and beyond what most rookies do in their first season with the New England Patriots both on and off the field.
Jones has helped the Patriots put together a 9-5 record after 15 weeks and he’s already a key voice of leadership. While he may be vocal in the locker room, he has been as uninteresting as quarterbacks can get when speaking with the media, likely on purpose. The Patriots seem to want to keep Jones out of the spotlight.
That’s why it surprised media members and fans to hear Jones criticize the Patriots, including himself, for a lackluster week of practice heading into a matchup with the Colts. Retired Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson isn’t sure how veterans will receive that criticism this week.
“When you’re a rookie quarterback, you’re not supposed to say stuff like that,” Johnson said on NBC10 Boston’s “Sports Sunday.”
Johnson did his best to consider what was happening behind the scenes. Did Jones decide to speak out? Or was there more going on?
“I was surprised by that because it was so off-script for Mac Jones,” Johnson said on “He’s always stuck to the script — cliché 101. This time he went off script and I was really surprised to hear him say that we were feeling sorry for ourselves. About what? You just came off a bye week. Is it because you played on a Monday night and then you had to play on a Saturday night? Get over it, boys. It’s ring-chasing time now. …
“And him saying they had a bad week of practice and that their energy level was low — you’re a rookie, keep your mouth shut. That’s not going to play well in the locker room. My feeling is Bill Belichick probably had him say it. I think Bill Belichick wanted the message to go through Mac Jones, call out his players. It would be atypical of Bill this year to come down really hard on this team. So, to me, that was some orders from Bill because I can’t imagine Mac Jones going off script like he did, criticizing the team’s energy and their preparation going into this week. When you’re a rookie quarterback, you’re not supposed to say stuff like that.”
👉 @Teddyjradio has a theory on why Mac Jones said the team didn't have a good week of practice after Saturday night's loss pic.twitter.com/cJ6VBJW998
— NBC Sports Boston's Patriots Coverage (@NBCSPatriots) December 20, 2021
It would be fitting if Belichick was behind this, pushing his young quarterback to take a vocal leadership role, one that he’s earned along the team’s so-far successful 2021 season. Belichick did, after all, echo what his quarterback said during an interview. It doesn’t seem so far-fetched.
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