After a mandated five-day absence due to a “misunderstanding” of NFL COVID testing rules, Cam Newton was back in his previous role taking the first practice reps at quarterback at Patriots training camp joint practices with the Giants Thursday morning.
By extension, first-round rookie Mac Jones returned to his slotting behind Newton in the two-hour workout that saw the tempo and competition ramp down a bit in the still excessively hot conditions.
Speaking with the media afterwards, Jones acknowledged it was harder to get into a “flow” as opposed to his extensive work in the No. 1 role a day earlier, arguably the best practice performance of his young career.
“I think it’s just about leading as best I can and filling in the role that I have to play. Yesterday I got a lot of reps and it was great and we communicated and I felt like we were in a really good flow, I kind of got into like a game flow. Today it’s a little bit harder just to get into that but I can get better because you just have to watch the tape. There’s things you see or you thought you saw but you just have to watch it and correct it. They made some good adjustments on defense with their safeties and stuff.
So I’ll look at that,” Jones said.
After Newton led an efficient two-minute drive in 11-on-11 action, Jones came on for what turned into a marathon march with multiple fourth downs along the way. It wasn’t exactly the way you’d draw it up.
“I just have to, when I go in, just execute the plays,” Jones said, downplaying any connection to Newton’s return and his own less stellar practice. “Like I said it is harder to get into like a flow, but at the same time when you are a rookie any reps you get it’s going to be awesome. So I just try to play it, slot the plays and play it play by play. And Cam being back was good because we have more throwers and stuff like that. And he can come back and lead. And I can lead. And Brian [Hoyer] can lead. So it takes all of us.”
Jones made it clear he enjoyed having Newton back to work and in the building.
“It was good. He came in this morning, and everyone was happy to see him,” Jones said. “Everyone was glad to have him back. Even today, there was something that popped up. He did something with the Mike (linebacker), and then I could kind of learn from what he did, and we talked it through. I got a lot of good coaching from Josh [McDaniels, offensive coordinator], Bo [Hardegree, Quality control/QBs], and then Hoyer yesterday.
Having Cam back too, is just good, ‘cuz he’s always trying to help.”
That said, Jones was clear that he enjoyed his role as the would-be starter in Wednesday’s impressive, highly competitive practice and the first-team reps he took throughout that Newton-free session.
“It’s just something that I obviously want to do,” Jones said of the top spot on the depth chart. “Everyone wants to take first team reps and stuff, but it just goes with the role, and yeah, it’s exciting, but it’s still football. I have to do my job, and fix the things I did bad. But yeah, I think we’ve made progress, but today, we definitely have to finish better and that starts with me, really. I think Cam did a good job today, and we’ll definitely have some time here to regroup, and play this final preseason game.”
While he clearly wants to be with the first team as often as possible, which was the case in Newton’s absence, Jones did his best to deflect a question wondering if he’d be disappointed if he isn’t named the Patriots starting quarterback heading into the regular season.
“That’s beyond my control. I can just control my effort every day and I’m trying,” Jones said. “I’m putting in a lot of work, and everyone else is, too. At the end of the day, there should be no drop-off here in the quarterback room. Josh always talks about the standard we play to in New England, and it doesn’t matter if you’re first string, second string, third string, but when you go in, there’s a standard, and I felt like today I could have definitely done better with that, playing up to the standard. So, there was definitely good progress in a lot of reps. It was fun, but we’ve got a lot of work to do.”