During games, Patriots quarterback Mac Jones can be an F-bomb-dropping, alleged crotch-grabbing menace. At press conferences, he’s pure Stepford Patriot.
On Wednesday, Mac’s programming required him to resort as often as possible to explaining that his focus will be doing his job, one play at a time. On a play-by-play basis. Understanding the intention of the play. Etc. Etc.
Here’s a collection of some of his answers, via the transcript provided by the team.
On the connection between moving the ball and job security:
“I think the biggest thing for me is take care of the football, go through my reads. You know, what’s the play? What’s the intention of the play? That’s all I can do as the quarterback, and I feel like the guys are doing a good job. So, I just have to get the ball out to them and let them make plays.”
On the “uncharacteristic” decisions he made on Sunday at Dallas:
“The biggest thing is moving from it and learning from it. Like I said, the play-by-play basis is important. What am I supposed to do on the play? What’s my read? What’s the intention of the play? If I follow that, usually 90 percent of the time it’s pretty good.”
On improving his decision-making:
“When you look at it, it’s just what I talked about. It’s what is the intention of the play, kind of what the read of it, where are my eyes and then usually that will take care of it. And, try not to do anything crazy, just stay within the frame of the offense. That’s what I’ve always done. I didn’t do that the last game and I have a chance to do that again here soon.
On whether he needs more film study:
“Not really. I think just stick to my routine. Biggest thing, like I said, is identify what play we’re running. It could be a run, it could be a handoff, what’s my job on that play? I can’t focus on really anything else. I’ve always been good when I do that and when I don’t, I’m not as good. So, just have to focus on that.
On handling the New Orleans defense:
“It kind of starts with us. What can we do better and what can I do better? That’s just focus on each play. What’s the design of the play? If it’s a run, hand it off, if it’s a pass, throw it, if it’s RPO, read it out. That’s kind of the main thing I’m focusing on.”
On his confidence level:
“Confidence is something that comes from years of practice, and it grows over time. I think that’s what I have to look back on, is I’ve played well at times and I just have got to be more consistent. I know it’s there. Like I said, just focus on my job, play-by-play, take the emotion out of it and go out there and try and distribute the ball to the right people.”
On the process of identification prior to the snap:
“I think the biggest thing is to take it play-by-play. Each play has a life of it’s own. You play it one play at a time, and that’s when you can stack plays up really well, including if you have to throw the ball away, throw it away. So, there’s a lot of things that go into it. The most important thing that I’ve noticed is just sticking to my process, trying to identify what are maybe one or two things I can do pre-snap and trying to play fast and play free.”
So there it is. Focus on his job. Play-by-play. What’s the intention of the play?
On Sunday, Jones apparently got away from those fundamental concepts. He’s frankly not skilled enough to freelance and improvise. He must operate within the confines of the offense, or he has no chance.
Against the Cowboys, he had no chance.