As Mac Jones stood at the podium in front of the media Wednesday morning, he didn’t look or sound like a guy that knows where he stands right now.
Jones conveyed a messages of positivity and stressed controlling controllable’s, but his tone and demeanor screamed uncertainty. Jones may have slipped up just a bit when it comes to discussions that have gone on internally as to who will be starting when the Patriots play the Giants in the Meadowlands on Sunday, but he certainly didn’t confirm or deny anything either.
“Hope so. I mean, that’s the plan. I think I always work really hard for that, really put a lot of attention and detail into the week, like I talked about.” Jones said when asked directly if he was starting on Sunday. “A lot of that decision making is things I can’t control, but I can control my attitude and my effort like I talked about, and I’m really thankful overall to be in the NFL and be playing quarterback on Thanksgiving. It’s a great week to be grateful for a lot of things, and to play this game, the game that we love, together, I think that means a lot to me regardless of the situation.”
To his credit, Jones has always said the right thing usually when it comes to his confidence. It’s hard to imagine that confidence isn’t severely damaged right now, but he still wouldn’t let on when asked about that Wednesday too.
“It’s good. I think, like I always talk about, when you’re a competitor, there’s things you’re going to bump into but you just have to keep going. I know I’m going to keep going,” Jones said. “Like I said, it will all work out. It always has. As long as you keep working and fighting through the vines, right? You’ve got to keep pushing and keep making it work. It might not happen today or tomorrow, but you’ve got to make it work. Just through your work ethic and all those things.”
Whether Jones starts or not will probably remain a mystery until Sunday and at this point. The quarterbacks have been splitting reps – which isn’t necessarily new – and whatever happens, Jones still believes in himself, but will also try and continue being a good teammate in this season of unprecedented failure.
“Like I said, I think you take advantage of the reps you’ve had, right? The ones that you don’t get, you just make sure you hit on the side or things like that,” Jones added of splitting reps with Will Grier and Bailey Zappe. “So, at the end of the day, I’ve played a good amount of snaps in the NFL, I feel confident that I can go out there, feel prepared based on my preparation, film study and all those things. Which this defense that we’re about to play presents a lot of issues. They blitz a lot. Obviously, their coach is a very good coach. They’re not afraid to bring the house.
“The quarterback has to be really in key with how to do protections, you’re reads and everything. It takes a lot of experience in this league. Whether you’ve failed at that or didn’t fail, but it takes experience. So, I’m looking forward to that.”