The Mac Jones smear campaign continues.
On Monday, Fox Sports’ Henry McKenna reported Patriots coaches were “instructed not to go too hard on Mac Jones in an effort to protect him from being too critical of himself.” McKenna added there was an issue during the 2021 season about Jones struggling after receiving harsh criticism.
McKenna attributes the anti-Mac anecdotes to a “team source.”
Interestingly enough, McKenna includes the nuggets in a writeup about Devin McCourty’s strong defense of the young quarterback. On NFL Network Monday, the 13-year vet praised Jones’ leadership and said “the sky is the limit” for the ex-Alabama standout.
The revelation from a team source about coaches being soft with Jones is the latest in a string of reports swiping at Jones’ attitude and poise. A few weeks back, NBC Sports’ Chris Sims reported that Jones irritated Bill Belichick with his habit of complaining to friends around the NFL about his situation in New England.
There were anonymous reports in December that Jones’ attitude “rubbed people the wrong way.”
Jones’ frustration with the offense was obvious: he acted histrionically on multiple occasions due to his apparent unhappiness with the play calling and how timeouts were being managed.
Still, the notion that coaches were told to lay off Jones is surprising, and directly contradicts Jones’ own words. Late in the season, he publicly expressed a desire to be “coached harder.”
So where is this coming from? Earlier this year, Tom Curran theorized on WEEI the “Mac-stabbing” could be emanating from Matt Patricia and/or Joe Judge.
It doesn’t look like Patricia will be around Jones this season, for what that’s worth. The Patriots hired Bill O’Brien as their offensive coordinator in January.
Jones is reportedly “very excited” about working with O’Brien, whom Tom Brady used to call “teapot” for his temper.
