There are a million ways to know you’ve made it in Boston sports, whether it’s seeing your jersey all over fans in the stands, getting a choice table at a buzzy local restaurant or hearing your name mentioned, for better or worse, on local talk radio. When you get worked into a beloved animated series that’s next level. Especially just after your rookie season.
Mac Jones appears, well, he’s mentioned on the most recent episode of FOX’s long-running hit animated series, “Family Guy”.
In the clip Peter Griffin is in bed watching a Patriots game (he’s a die-hard Pats fan as he lives in the fictional town of Quahog, RI), while having a conversation with his wife, Lois. As Peter focuses on the game we hear highlights of Mac Jones at QB, even scrambling for a touchdown (an obvious nod that the show is a comedy).
Pretty impressive that Jones would get the shoutout so early on in his career. Previous New England Patriot players of prominence like Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski were featured in an episode a few years back. The Patriots, with their success and national profile for the past two decades plus, have been on the receiving end of many jokes in TV and film, and were given the animated treatment several times on TV’s longest-running animated series, “The Simpsons”; Tom Brady appeared back in 2005, and Bill Belichick appeared famously in an episode, which had his team finding a curious way to win a game, that was later tweaked to pay tribute to the Patriots’ famous Super Bowl 51 comeback.
Playing for the Patriots while making the playoffs and Pro Bowl as a rookie has all definitely elevated the profile of Mac Jones. Where he appears next? Likely on the field in Foxboro, a place he goes about his business in a very “Do Your Job” Patriots-esque manner heading into his second season under center. But he’s definitely more animated off the field, literally and now figuratively, too.