Mac Jones' first NFL start is in the books as he performed well, but the Patriots fell to the Dolphins 17-16 Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium.
The rookie finished 29-of-39 passing for 281 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions.
Appearing on Merloni & Fauria Monday afternoon, Jones was asked about his performance.
“Looking back on it, definitely a lot of things to clean up," he said. "But, nothing to hang our head [over] at this point. We’ve watched the film and we’re just excited to move forward. It’s one game. It sucks to lose. Nobody wants to lose. We’re going to do everything we can to not have that happen. Opening Day, rookie year, check box by that, and we’re going to keep working.”
While the team ultimately didn't win the game, Jones performed well in his first professional start.
So, is he able to separate the two at all?
“Not really," he said. "For me, it’s just about winning and losing. For all of us it’s about winning and losing. It takes all the people on the field, so there are going to be games when I won’t play as well and hopefully we can pull it off. That’s what we need to do — work together as a unit and we will. But, it’s really not an individual sport. It’s kind of hard to sit there and raise one finger or another. There’s things I can clean up, obviously from watching the tape a bunch of times already today.”
Between his postgame press conference and interview Monday, it's clear he's very hard on himself, which the hosts then asked if he thinks he's too hard on himself?
“A lot of people say that, but it’s just trying to be perfect and being a perfectionist," Jones said. "I think something we all want to do here is try and be as perfect as we can, but I think we did a good job yesterday of not getting too emotional or anything like that, too.
"When I play my best, [I] just stick to my rules and trust the people around me who have played a lot of football. My goal is to be able to do my job even better every week and then I know the guys around me who have played in the NFL for awhile are going to do that too. If I can elevate my game, they are going to elevate theirs. We’ll just keep stacking days together.”
Jones and the Patriots will take on the Jets in Week 2.