Mac Jones Making This Change After Back-To-Back Benchings

FOXBORO, Mass. — Mac Jones is working to clean up some of his fundamentals after enduring two of the worst outings of his Patriots career in quick succession.

Jones’ eyes and footwork weren’t nearly good enough in his three-turnover outings against Dallas and New Orleans, the quarterback said Wednesday, and need to improve this week against the Las Vegas Raiders if New England hopes to rebound after back-to-back 30-point defeats.

But Jones spent much of his Week 6 news conference stressing his need for improvement in another, subtler area: communication.

The oft-criticized QB said he realized this week that he isn’t communicating with his teammates — especially the younger, less experienced ones — as well as he can and should be. Jones believes remedying that issue will help repair a Patriots offense that’s looked broken of late.

“I’m not necessarily a younger guy anymore,” Jones said. “It’s my third year, and I’ve got to start playing like that and communicating like that. That’s important to me. Whether it’s route depth or, ‘Hey, Pop (Douglas), this is what I want you to do here,’ or whatever.

“It’s all about communication and taking it both ways — from the coaches to the players, players to the coaches. That’s something that I’m going to focus on this week, and I already have. It’s one of the things that I’ve done really well in the past.”

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That’s true. Back in 2021, before his rookie season, Jones’ veteran teammates raved about the “swagger” and “life” that he brought to the Patriots’ locker room.

Jones feels like he’s lost some of that connection, and that it’s shown on the field. He said he surveyed fellow players for advice this week and had one remind him of his communication skills.

“Really just thinking about a lot of things and talking with the guys in the locker room,” he said.” Guys like Hunter (Henry) or whoever — guys who have played a lot of football in this league.

“One of the best things that I do is my ability to communicate. Somebody told me that in the locker room, and I really took that to heart. That’s really good information for me, and that’s who I am. I need to do better job of that, and I haven’t done that here the past couple years.”

Jones also stressed the need for the Patriots to play with more energy and, simply put, have more “fun” during games. They’ve done so in practice, he said, but it hasn’t translated on Sundays.

There was little fun to be had in New England’s last two games, which featured six Jones turnovers and consecutive second-half benchings for the embattled signal-caller. The Patriots lost to the Cowboys and Saints by a combined score of 72-3, with backup Bailey Zappe finishing both games behind center.

Head coach Bill Belichick and offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien both said Jones will keep his starting job this week. He’s far from the only problem for the Patriots, who surrounded him with a shaky and injury-depleted O-line and receivers who can’t consistently get open. Still, as the saying goes, ball security is job security, and another outing like his last two could get him benched for good.

Despite that pressure, Jones was surprisingly upbeat as he addressed reporters Wednesday.

“(Self-doubt) is definitely a real thing, right, when you’re not playing too well?” he said. “But there’s a lot of things I can do really well and one of those things is my ability to communicate and be myself. I haven’t done that here at times, and I just need to be consistent with that and be Mac.

“A lot of the guys, I have a great relationship with, and they’re some of my closest friends, not only on the field but off the field. So, let’s carry that into the games. I feel like we do it in practice. Obviously, you guys saw that in training camp — we were out there having fun. And then the game comes around, and we’re kind of like — I don’t know what it is.

“I just want to go out there and have fun and do our jobs and celebrate with each other, and when somebody gets knocked down, pick them back up. Trying to change the narrative there and really just play football together.”

Jones firmly believes stronger communication will help revive an offense that ranks last in the NFL in points per game and surrendered more points off defensive touchdowns (22) than it scored over the last three contests (16).

“That’ll really help,” Jones said. “I know it will. It’s been proven to do that. I think that’s what I’ll focus on and not really focus on the results, because the results will come. You’ve got to stick with the process and the communication.”