Could negative reports about Mac Jones’ attitude be coming from inside the Patriots organization?
That’s what NBC Sports Boston’s Tom Curran theorized Thursday afternoon during one of his regular appearances on WEEI. Citing a recent report from Chris Simms about how Jones vented his frustrations to people outside of Foxborough this season, Curran says some Patriots coaches may be speaking negatively about Jones to save their reputations.
Can you guess who that might be?
“To me, the bigger issue here is, there’s a ‘Mac-stabbing’ going on,” said Curran. “Chris Simms worked in the Patriots organization. He’s obviously well connected within the league. If you look at this situation, someone is telling Chris Simms, ‘Yeah, Mac acts out. Mac is driving us crazy. He might show us up when the television cameras are rolling, but he can be a real pain in the ass. Bill has just about had it.’ To me, that is part of what the New England Patriots have become about lately. They’ve always been that way to a degree — very Machiavellian, protecting your own territory, saving face, getting your narrative out there as quickly as possible.
“I think the Mac Jones narrative carried the day for a long, long, long, long time, because it was obvious it was a mistake. But it became so overt, that now I think you’re seeing pushback. I’d be surprised if the pushback isn’t coming from Joe Judge and/or Matt Patricia. Those are two individuals who got the golden tickets of being head coaches. They got the massive contracts. Neither of them did well in those occasions. They’d love to get those golden tickets again, just like Josh McDaniels and Brian Flores and ‘you name it’ got it. But the best way to do that is to succeed here. And if you’re actually coming out of here with your name being mud, well that ain’t good. This kind of crap has to stop within that organization. But Bill has traded in this his entire career. This is how Bill operates.”
All season long, many NFL analysts pinned Jones’ sophomore struggles on bad coaching and an inadequate offensive scheme. Jones only added to those narratives with on-field outbursts during critical situations.
On Monday, Bill Belichick declined to say Jones will be the Patriots’ starter in 2023, only saying he “has the ability to play quarterback in this league.”
It’s apparent the relationship between Jones and the Patriots is at an impasse.
“I really believe this Mac backlash, some of which he deserved, absolutely, for being a dink,” said Curran. “I think some of his teammates might have said ‘cut it out,’ and he did, which speaks well of him and his teammates. But what we’re starting to see pushed forward by some folks in different media circles of, ‘Well, Mac was really a big baby.’ We’re getting a little overboard. I think that’s coming from some place.”
It seems like the Patriots have a lot more to fix this offseason than their coaching staff. That’s for sure.
