Bill O’Brien gives his perspective on Mac Jones’ performance the last 2 weeks, and whether or not he will start Sunday vs. the Raiders
FOXBORO -- The Patriots have made their choice. For now, at least.
When asked whether or not he expects Mac Jones to start at quarterback for the Patriots on Sunday in Las Vegas, offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien said he does.
In opting to stick with Jones at quarterback, the Patriots have made a few things clear.
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- They believe Jones still gives them the best chance to win, despite the turnovers that have plagued his game through the early portion of the season. In their quest to save the Patriots' season, Jones still represents the team's best option in Belichick's eyes.
- They believe the team will be bought into the overall operation with Jones leading the charge, despite his play of late.
- They do not believe Bailey Zappe or Will Grier would represent an upgrade, even if in an ideal scenario the team would have a quarterback for a situation like this one. Either that, or the team believes it's still too early in the season to make that kind of change, and potentially yo-yo at the game's most important position for the foreseeable future if no one can get a stranglehold on the job.
Both publicly and privately, members of the Patriots organization have taken an it's-early-yet approach to the rest of their season. They have not hit the panic button, as the decision to stick with Jones would suggest.
"There's always obituaries being written," O'Brien said. "But there's a lot of football to be played. Let's see if we can get better. I think the NFL is always about who can improve the fastest. We have a long way to go, don't get me wrong. But hopefully we can get there."
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Belichick suggested after Sunday's 34-0 loss to the Saints that his team needed to "start over." Some within the organization believed that meant they would be looking inward this week -- handling the early portion of the week almost like a bye week, where self-scouting becomes paramount -- while O'Brien explained that a focus on fundamentals is the key when looking for a fresh start.
"Fundamentally, Bill's right. Bill's exactly right," O'Brien said. "Bill's coached a lot of years, 50 years in this league, thereabouts. I've been around a long time, not just in the pros but in college football. We've had good seasons. We've had seasons where things early on didn't go well.
"It always comes back to fundamentals. Your teaching progressions. Your fundamentals as a player. It's a team sport. Everybody's sticking together and making sure we take care of the little things. Those are the things that are hurting us right now.
"Look, at the end of the day, we're turning the ball over too much. That's the No. 1 thing. We've got to stop turning the ball over. We gotta take care of the ball. We gotta start there."
If Jones can't begin to do that more effectively -- he's turned it over six times total in the last two weeks, three times for touchdowns -- then a change at quarterback could be coming.
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I've been consistent in my belief since the Saints game that the path for the Patriots should be to roll with the quarterback who gives them the best chance to win as they try to reclaim their ability to have some semblance of a meaningful season in 2023. That, to me, would be Jones.
The Patriots told the world how they felt about Zappe when they released him to get down to 53 active-roster players before the start of the season. And they've continued to show their hand relating to Zappe, as they've tried to upgrade the backup quarterback spot over the last month with Matt Corral, Ian Book and now Grier. They're providing further evidence that they'd rather not play Zappe by not taking the last two games as an opportunity to trot him out for his first start in his second season.
As things stand at the moment, however, I haven't sensed an overwhelming amount of support in the organization to keep Jones on the field, either. There's almost a feeling of resignation in some corners of the building at One Patriot Place when it comes to the quarterback position. Whoever Belichick chooses, the thinking goes, please just stop giving the other team the football.
Only time will tell if Jones can stay within the scheme, play with better ball-security, and give the Patriots a shot to play more competitively than it has the last two weeks, when they've lost by a combined score of 72-3.
At least we now know that Jones will be afforded more time as the starter, which was no guarantee until we heard from O'Brien on Tuesday.
