Why?
It’s a simple question that oftentimes has less than simple answers.
As any parent knows, being asked Why? can bring both pride and frustration.
Why? also happens to be the favorite question of Patriots’ second-year quarterback Mac Jones, something he made quite clear throughout the offseason and summer as he worked his way through curious changes to the New England offensive coaching staff and a supposedly “streamlined” new scheme in the wake of trusted former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ departure.
“That’s the important part for me is understanding why we are doing something and from there my job as a player is to go execute the plays,” Jones said at the opening of training camp on July 27.
“Like I always say, I just like to know why,” Jones reiterated Aug 31, with training camp in the rearview mirror and his second NFL season drawing near.
Jones is a clearly a “Why?” guy. It’s served him well from high school to competing for a starting job for Nick Saban’s Alabama college football dynasty to beating out Cam Newton to become a first-round rookie starting quarterback with the Patriots, leading his new team back to the postseason.
Why? wouldn’t Jones continue to do things the way he’s always done them and ask the questions that have led him to this pretty elite level in his career? He’d be crazy to change now, given all that he’s accomplished.
Curiosity may have killed the proverbial cat, but asking Why? has been the foundation of Jones’ career as a quarterback who’s greatest strength may be his mind.
Now, though, Jones is mired in a curious quarterback controversy in New England. After he suffered a reportedly serious high ankle sprain in a Week 3 loss to the Ravens – injury added to the insult of a terrible start to the season that saw the sophomore starter throw five interceptions among his six turnovers in three games, including two losses – he was relegated to watching as an unheralded fourth-round rookie took over (with a cameo start from veteran backup Brian Hoyer in Week 4 in Green Bay) the quarterback position. Bailey Zappe won both his NFL starts and ignited the New England season, Zappe Fever leading the Patriots back to .500!
And this week, while again filling in for Jones as the weekly starting quarterback interview Tuesday afternoon on the “Merloni, Fauria & Mego” show on WEEI, Zappe revealed that he brings a very different mentality to the plays that are called for him and the coaching that he gets from the likes of first-year play-caller Matt Patricia and quarterbacks coach Joe Judge.
After Jones returned to the starting lineup against the Bears on Monday night only to be replaced by Zappe after three fruitless New England drives – two three-and-outs followed by an ugly interception – the rookie explained that there wasn’t really a need for the coaches to have two sets of plays ready to go against Chicago given their supposed plan to play both quarterbacks in the game.
“Matty P calls the same game for both of us. Speaking for me, I always tell Matty P. call whatever he wants and I’ll try to make it work for him,” Zappe told MFM.
No Why? there. Just a can-do, will-do attitude from the upstart youngster looking to carve out his career in the NFL, having already called his early opportunities “surreal.”
This isn’t to say that Jones’ Why? way is the wrong way.
Or that Zappe’s approach is preferred, even by the New England coaches.
But it is notable the distinct difference between the way that Jones looks at his role – which less than two months ago was seen as the entrenched franchise quarterback, the future of Robert Kraft’s team that’s still finding its way post-Tom Brady – and the mentality that Zappe brings to his job in the admitted honeymoon period of his professional career.
Why has Bill Belichick avoided every opportunity to declare that Jones is his starting quarterback?
Why did Belichick plan to play both quarterbacks in Monday’s loss to the Bears, including a quick hook for Jones as he tried to knock the rust off after a three-game absence? Why did Jones not return to the game in the second half against Chicago, as Belichick said was part of the plan in a halftime chat with ESPN?
Why is Zappe still in the mix at the quarterback position despite Jones’ apparent return to health?
Why do the Patriots currently have a quarterback controversy or even a quarterback problem?
Why indeed.
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