Mac Jones Pushes Back On Quote About ‘Garbage’ Patriots Offense

After the Patriots were trounced by the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, FOX Sports' Henry McKenna relayed a whopper of a quote from a source close to quarterback Mac Jones.

"No matter how good of cook you are, you cannot make garbage taste good," the source said, per McKenna. "Even if it was not Mac at QB, what QB would want to play here under these conditions?"

Asked one day later about that explosive comment, Jones said he had not seen it and did not agree with it.

"I didn't see that. I don't do social media," Jones said Monday on WEEI's "Jones & Mego with Arcand." "I try to stay off and eliminate the noise. But I disagree with that. I think we have a really talented group of guys that I've been fortunate to work with this whole offseason and into the season. Some guys, for three or four years. I've been a part of a great organization. So, I definitely disagree with that."

Mac Jones speaks on the “A chef can’t make trash taste good.” rumor:

"I didn't see that. I don't do social media... I disagree with that, we have a really talented group of guys that I've been fortunate to work with... I didn't hear that or see that." pic.twitter.com/fwjt4BJ5Sq

— Jones & Mego with Arcand (@JonesandMego) October 9, 2023

Jones played poorly in each of the Patriots' last two games and was lifted for backup Bailey Zappe late in both. Over those two outings -- losses of 38-3 to Dallas and 34-0 to New Orleans -- Jones turned the ball over six times and had three of those returned for touchdowns. But he's far from the only problem plaguing New England's 32nd-ranked offense.

With the Patriots lacking talent on the offensive line and at wide receiver, Jones often has had no time to throw, no open targets or both. The result: an almost incomprehensibly inefficient unit that can't run or pass the ball effectively and has gone 10 straight quarters without a touchdown.

The Patriots will be looking for any sort of offensive spark ahead of this Sunday's true must-win game against the Las Vegas Raiders, and head coach Bill Belichick could implement some changes this week. ESPN's Adam Schefter vaguely reported Monday that New England's offense "isn’t going to look the same" against Vegas.

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Jones was asked whether he'd been told he would start against the Raiders.

“We were off (Monday)," the QB replied. "So, obviously I'm going to focus on watching all the tape I can and really just looking forward to trying to come up with a game plan of what I can do better. That's what I do every week, and I've done that every week since I've been in the NFL.

"I know we haven't done great on offense and there's a lot of uncertainty surrounding everything, but at the end of the day I have to go out there and focus on what I can control."