Bill O’Brien Delivers Strong Defense Of Mac Jones: ‘Blame Me’

Bill O'Brien deserves some of the heat for Mac Jones' regression -- and he knows it.

The Patriots offensive coordinator was asked Tuesday morning for an assessment of Jones' confidence level after getting benched again in Sunday's road loss to the New York Giants. O'Brien acknowledged Jones' obvious issues but took responsibility for the overall struggles of New England's putrid offense.

"What I see is that he's a very bright guy, he works very hard, he's passionate about the game," O'Brien said during a video call. "Things haven't gone great for him this year. I don't think he's the No. 1 guy to blame. If you want to blame anybody, blame me. I'm the one that designs it and it's not going very well.

"Look, at the end of the day can he execute better? Are there things that he can do better? Sure. But there's things that all of us have to do better to put a winning product on the field, and right now that's not what it is. What I see is a very confident guy, that's a very bright guy, a very hard-working guy that'll continue to work hard and try to improve on the things he needs to improve on."

O'Brien also indicated the Patriots could hold another open quarterback competition this week.

Jones and Bailey Zappe shared practice reps last week, with Bill Belichick later revealing Jones saw slightly more. Zappe took over for Jones, who threw two interceptions, in the second half of the loss at MetLife Stadium but also struggled while throwing one interception. Since joining New England in 2021, Jones has started every game in which he's been healthy.

The Patriots are 2-9 and currently own the No. 3 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. They'll host the 4-7 Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.