Does Mac Jones have trust issues with the team he’s trying to lead?
Sports Illustrated writer Albert Breer thinks so, and he believes the sticky situation Jones has found himself in of late can be traced to questioning the Patriots’ process — perhaps a bit too much.
“I think things did get a little sideways over the last couple of months,” Breer said. “I think it’s going back to the change from Josh McDaniels. ‘Why are we bringing in Joe Judge and Matt Patricia when Bill O’Brien is sitting out there and potentially we could’ve made a run at him? … Why are we changing the offense? Why are we streamlining after all the success I had? Why, why, why, why, why?’”
To be fair to Mac Jones, just about everyone who saw the Patriots ostensibly put their offensive game plan largely in the hands of Patricia and Judge was asking “why?” just as much, if not more. Why would the Patriots willingly do such a thing with their second-year quarterback, whom they were seemingly hoping to see growth from in his sophomore campaign?
That’s why there was some understanding of Jones’ struggles in his first few games along with some trepidation about his increase in turnovers this early in the season.
But then, Bailey Zappe and his solid, largely turnover-free happened and flipped some of the narrative about the offense’s newness and schematic issues on its head — so much so that Bill Belichick won’t publicly endorse Jones as the for-sure starter when he’s healthy enough to return to action.
“This is sort of given the coaches an opportunity to send a message to Mac,” Breer explained. “I don’t think Mac was ever in jeopardy of losing his job. But I don’t think that they told Mac that either…Here’s a chance for them to send the message to Mac that, ‘You have to do things better. If you trust the offense, look what the offense is doing for this fourth-round pick out of Western Kentucky.’
“We saw early in the year he freelanced some, he took shots downfield, we saw the turnover issue. I think the message here is, ‘Watch what Bailey Zappe is doing. He’s doing what we’re telling him to, and watch what the offense is doing for him.’”
There’s plenty of debate about whether Jones is being coached to take some of the deep shots he’s taken or if it’s been all him going off-script.
Whatever the truth, the Patriots have shown they can get by with Zappe at quarterback even if they’re missing the explosive throws Jones was able to generate. That knowledge might well be pushing Jones’ desire to get back on the field to try and make everyone forget “Zappe Hour.”
Then again, if Breer’s to be believed, playing a bit more like Bailey might be the way to settle things down between Jones and his coaches.
