New England Patriots quarterbacks coach Joe Judge chatted with reporters over Zoom on Tuesday. Unsurprisingly, he was asked about the status of Mac Jones, who's now missed three consecutive games with a high ankle sprain.
Judge, as expected, did not reveal any new information about Jones' recovery, or about the Patriots' impending decision on whether to hand Jones back his starting job or roll with red-hot rookie Bailey Zappe. But he did share his view on how Jones has handled his recovery process.
"Well, I'm not the doctors, and I'm not the head coach, so those decisions are above my head," Judge said. "My job is to prepare Mac every day as if he is playing. He does a terrific job of coming in every day, staying up to date on the information we give him on the opponents, and he prepares every day as if he's taking every snap. I think that's a tribute to how he works and the talent and competitiveness he has, and he's doing everything he can to get himself back as fast as possible."
Jones has shown steady improvement since he suffered his injury on Sept. 25, looking more mobile and less limited during last week's Patriots practices. He was listed as questionable for Sunday's game against the Browns -- up from a "doubtful" designation the previous week -- and although he ultimately was inactive, he made the trip to Cleveland and was on the sideline during the game, offering his insight to Zappe and Judge.
"He showed a lot of great leadership this weekend," Judge said. "He really did. You always want a guy like Mac -- obviously, he's a captain of the team -- you want him down there with the team. You want him in uniform. He wasn't available this week for certain reasons, but I would say having him down there has a very positive impact on the team. It was good for the other players.
"You can ask the quarterbacks directly specifically about how it helped them; I can't speak for them. But I know as a coach, just having conversations with Mac on the bench throughout the series, looking at pictures together, seeing things he's picking up on -- those conversations, talking with the players in game, you've always got to value their perspective of what they're seeing out there ... because they're looking at it through a different lens."
Judge again praised Jones' leadership when asked about the QB's relationship with Zappe, who's won each of his two starts and posted a passer rating of 100 or above in both.
"You know, Mac's a captain on this team, and he leads all the players," Judge said. "These guys were elected by their teammates for a reason, and that's for their leadership, being a vocal piece, talking directly to the head coach and sharing the beat of the team. Mac's done a great job throughout the entire season, going back to spring when Zappe got here, as far as working with his teammates, working together, competing with them but then also helping out with each other's games. He's done a really good job of demonstrating how to work, how to prepare and how to compete on a daily basis for really all of our players on our roster to see as an example."
It remains unclear which quarterback will start next Monday against the Chicago Bears, with head coach Bill Belichick declining to say whether Jones will reclaim his starting spot once he's healthy. Judge deferred to Belichick on questions about Jones' playing status, but he did speak generally about how the team evaluates players coming back from injuries.
"In terms of when you're looking at players coming back from injury, I think generally speaking, there's two things you're concerned with as a coach," Judge said. "That's No. 1, can they hurt it any worse? You never want to put a player in a position to be worse off. And then No. 2 would be can they protect themselves? Again, these are things that come up through practice and what you see, and that's an evaluation you have to make with any player.
"Obviously, healthy players are a little bit easier to evaluate, and guys coming off injuries, you have to see where they're at within their rehab and how they're moving. But those decisions are made by people above me -- the head coach and the medical staff."
