You’d be hard-pressed to find a bad word said about Mac Jones this week.
The Patriots rookie quarterback was awfully impressive in his NFL debut, throwing for 281 yards and one touchdown in New England’s season-opening loss to the Miami Dolphins. Experts, teammates, coaches and executives all have praised the first-round pick for his poise, toughness, leadership and ability.
Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels echoed those sentiments Tuesday afternoon while assessing Jones’s performance. However, McDaniels also offered insight into a specific area in which Jones already is excelling.
“His communication I thought was clear. It was consistent. He was loud,” McDaniels told reporters. “I always tell rookies or young players, if you’re not 100% sure, it’s not OK to be quiet. I’d rather them be loud and wrong than silent. Then nobody knows what’s going on.
“He’s always done a good job in that regard and I would expect he continues to do so.”
Of course, Jones was not perfect in his debut. He left some plays on the field, threw a couple bad balls and his first dropback was a disaster. He, like any rookie quarterback, has much he needs to improve.
And McDaniels expects him to do just that.
“Look, there’s no young player who has ever played in their first NFL game that didn’t come out of the game and say, ‘OK, wow, there’s a lot of things I can learn moving forward that I hadn’t experienced before. So, I thought there was some positives to his play,” McDaniels said. “But at the same time, I think he knows there were a few decisions that he made and a couple reads and a few throws (that he would like back)).
“There’s not many quarterbacks that play the game in the NFL that come out and say, ‘Man, I had a perfect game.’ So, there was some positives in the game, for sure. Things he learned. Some things he did well. Then I think there’s also some things that now he’s seen them and he’s seen some things different in the game, certainly the speed of the game in the regular season is different than the preseason. He’ll adapt to that. And he’ll continue to improve his communication, his ability to see things quickly and the decisions he makes will hopefully improve along the way as well.”
Jones and the Patriots will look to get their first win of the season this Sunday when they visit the New York Jets.
Kickoff from MetLife Stadium is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.
