Much of the offseason was spent with many people wondering about how things stood between Mac Jones and head coach Bill Belichick, with various issues in 2022 seemingly souring their relationship.
There was plenty of frustration in 2022 for Jones, who ended up with multiple public outbursts on the sideline due to an apparent difference of opinion in the play-calling last year under former offensive coordinator, Matt Patricia.
The most notable was clearly the Week 13 match-up at home against the Buffalo Bills. In that game, cameras caught Jones criticizing the “quick game” the team ran offensively in an expletive-laced tirade as the club could do little in a game they needed to have.
With the offense unable to get much going, Buffalo ended up beating them 24-10 in what was their second-straight loss coming off their Thanksgiving day defeat out in Minnesota.
Additional reports came out following the end of the 2022 campaign that at some point last season, Jones also sought guidance from his alma-mater which got back to Belichick and it apparently didn’t sit well.
Belichick said little positive when it came to Jones this past offseason and kept things pretty general overall on the quarterback position, which had been a topic of conversation for much of the spring.
However, at some point the two have seemed to have ironed things out and Jones was asked about their relationship on Wednesday.
“No, I think we’re good,” said Jones. “I think the biggest thing that we’ve all talked about is just having a fresh start. I think there’s a lot of learning experiences from last year that we’ve talked about and this year, it’s all about just working together, right? You’ve got to come up with a plan, obviously talk about it, and then execute it. So, I’m excited for that part of it.”
Jones has been working with new offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien, who has seemed to get things back on track. The third-year quarterback has looked a lot more comfortable and confident since O’Brien took over, and Jones says he’s excited for what’s ahead.
“For me, I’m just trying to be really consistent, try not to ride the wave, just stay my course and hopefully, everybody on our offense feels that, too,” said Jones. “I think Coach O’Brien does a great job laying out what we do well so far, and we’re going to learn every day what we do well and then from there, you just keep moving forward and execute the plan. So, I’m definitely excited for that.”
With day one under his belt, Jones said the plan now is to “do my thing” and just be consistent in the coming weeks.
“I think every year of football, that’s why you play, right? The key, for me, is trying to just take it day by day and not get too up or down,” said Jones. “Just take things as they come and I know for a lot of guys, some guys, this is their 14th, 15th training camp or whatever in the NFL, on top of however long they’ve played football.”
“So, for me I think of it the same way. I’ve played since I was 5 years old, so I’ve had a lot of chances to have a first day and kind of get into a season. So, I’m definitely excited, but just got to approach it very cerebral and just do my thing.”
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
