At some point, Mac Jones isn’t going to be the quarterback of the New England Patriots.
The only question is, does that time come this season, or after 2023? Time is ticking to decide whether the team wants to pick up his fifth-year option and given the fact that the Pats are 1-5, the future doesn’t look to bright for No. 10. Still, despite all the negativity and mounting losses, Jones insists he’s sticking to his process.
“Yeah, those are the results. What I try to focus on is the process,” Jones said when the very first question he faced Wednesday was about having zero touchdowns and five picks in his last three games. “When you think about trying to make plays you usually don’t, and I think that’s important. I think you have to operate within the system, within yourself as a quarterback and those things will come when you do the process right, but if you’re not doing the process right then you won’t get the result.”
The team that has constantly preached ‘ignore the noise’ is hearing a lot of it these days, but Jones has done his best to stay off social media and try to keep his head down to work through this mess.
“Yeah, I don’t really do that stuff, and I just try to focus on the guys in the locker room,” he said. “Because, like I say, they’re my friends. They’re my teammates, and as long as we’re together, then we should all be together. I feel like that’s what’s happening, and that’s important. To work through tough times shows a lot about people’s character and who they are, and I feel like we have the right group to do it. So, I definitely want to face the challenge, look at it in the eyes and attack it.”
Mac has never been a very “out there” guy in terms of the media or with the public, but he has done his best to let the fans in a little bit. He was asked if he feels like he’s done a good enough job portraying himself accurately to the fans. The majority of the fan base currently thinks he’s soft, mentally weak and not very talented. A large portion of that is because he’s just not as demonstrative as other quarterbacks, particularly one that used to wear No. 12 around here.
Jones is a good guy who has simply had a rough go of things his first three years. When you’re the QB of the Patriots, either you’re good or not and there’s no in-between. Jones is going to remain who he is for better or worse, and whether fans like it or not, that’s better than being a fake leader.
“I think for me, football is a big part of my life, but I also have other parts of my life, you know? I think I’m definitely sometimes misconstrued, or whatever, but I just try to be Mac,” he added. “I do have really close friends on the team, and football is my life, and it’s very important to me. Standing up here every week, I try to talk with you guys and I have a lot of respect for what you guys do, so hopefully you guys feel the same.
“Definitely try to keep it about football, right? I’m not going to sit up here and talk about personal stuff. I do feel like I’m a very private person as well, so I don’t like to share too many things.”