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Former New England Patriots coach Eric Mangini appreciates Mac Jones taking accountability for the 2022 season, but he still believes the third-year quarterback has a long ways to go to earning back the respect of everybody in the Patriots’ building.
Mangini spent six seasons with New England from 2000-2005. He spent those years on the defensive side of football and was a key part in helping the organization win three Super Bowls.
As for Jones, he will be looking to bounce back from a difficult season last year. He passed for 2,997 yards, 14 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
The former first-round draft pick regressed a bit from his Pro Bowl rookie season in 2021, and he now enters a pivotal third year. The Patriots have new offensive weapons and a new offensive coordinator in Bill O’Brien. So there’s an opportunity for him to turn things around this season.
He recently talked about earning the respect of everybody in the building again, which is what Mangini alluded to when speaking with the 33rd Team’s Trey Wingo, as transcribed by NESN.com’s Greg Dudek.
According to Mangini, there was a lot of respect given to Jones upon arrival in New England, and it’s going to take more than an offseason statement or a social media post for him to get that back.
“I like what he said. I like it a lot because I’ve always felt that Mac didn’t appreciate how good a situation he came into,” said Mangini. “He had Josh McDaniels, he had Mick Lombardi, a great offensive staff, he had as stable an organization as you could get. He had a team that played complementary football. He came from a program that was similar. It was a perfect situation for who he was. And then Josh McDaniels leaves, he talks about, ‘Oh, I’ve had multiple coordinators. It’s not that big a deal.’
“There was a little arrogance to the way he approached things. And then he found out how hard it is to win consistently in this league, and how tenuous your position is and that you probably shouldn’t go outside the New England Patriots organization if you don’t like what’s going on.”
The 2023 season will undoubtedly be a challenging one, as New England has the hardest schedule in the NFL. Nevertheless, a cohesive coaching staff and an offense in which everybody is buying into should make things a little bit easier.
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