Mac Jones is a rookie QB who has learned to turn himself into a cliché machine during postgame press conferences. After the Patriots’ loss to the Colts on Saturday, however, he was far more candid than fans and reporters have been accustomed to.
After the 27-17 defeat, Jones told reporters the team had a bad week of practice.
“Starting with me, the energy was kind of low, maybe like feeling a little sorry for ourselves because we’re coming off the bye and stuff,” Jones said.
“Not to get into details, but we just didn’t practice well, and that just reflects how we played. And I didn’t practice good, and I know a lot of guys on our team felt the same way.”
His comments seem to be just fine, until one former player of the team decided to give his stong opinion on those comments from a rookie QB.
Former Patriot Ted Johnson, who played linebacker in New England from 1995 to 2004, saw evertyhing wrong in what Mac Jones had to say after the loss.
“This time he went off script and I was really surprised to hear him say that we were feeling sorry for ourselves. About what,” Johnson asked on NBC10 Boston. “You just came off a bye week. Is it because you played on a Monday night and then you had to play on a Saturday night? Get over it, boys. It’s ring-chasing time now.”
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
“And him saying they had a bad week of practice and that their energy level was low — you’re a rookie, keep your mouth shut. That’s not going to play well in the locker room.”
Johnson even alleges that those quotes from Jones likely came from the head coach.
“My feeling is Bill Belichick probably had him say it,” Johnson said. “I think Bill Belichick wanted the message to go through Mac Jones, call out his players. It would be atypical of Bill this year to come down really hard on this team. So, to me, that was some orders from Bill because I can’t imagine Mac Jones going off script like he did, criticizing the team’s energy and their preparation going into this week. When you’re a rookie quarterback, you’re not supposed to say stuff like that.”
Mac Jones had 299 passing yards to go along with 2 touchdowns and two interceptions.
