As Mac Jones Talks of Wanting to be Coached 'Hard,' a Patriots Insider Says Patriots Players Hit a 'Breaking Point' and Decided to Hold the Coaches 'Accountable'
Given the fact that Mac Jones was lobbing F-missiles toward Matt Patricia and waving off the suggestions his OC was feeding into his helmet speakers with sort of exaggerated stage gestures you expect from a middle schooler as Ebenezer Scrooge chasing off street urchins, it's all the more interesting that a day later he was on WEEI praising the way this week's opponent Josh McDaniels used to coach him:
So Mac likes it hard. And yes, I hear myself.
More interesting still is the perspective former pod guest Phil Perry offers on how that relates to the dynamic between Jones, his teammates, and Patricia:
Source - After a Week 13 loss to the Bills, for instance, Jones asked for more hard coaching.
"I think it's accountability," Jones said at the time when he was asked about what is holding the Patriots offense back. "It starts with me. I think I want to be coached harder. I want to be a better player. The coaches have given us everything they've got. They've done everything to put us in position to win. But I want to hold everybody accountable, including myself …
"We've just got to go out there and do it together. That starts in practice. 'Hey, I didn't do this right. Call me out for it. Tell me that I'm wrong.' If you're a good leader, you can accept that. You can look at the other guy and say the same thing to him that he says to you. …
Obviously, the coaches are a big part of it, but it really starts with the players. Clearly I haven't done a good enough job of doing my part in that."
While taking a lot of the blame, Jones mentioned coaching on multiple occasions. He wanted more.
Which then brings to mind how, back at the beginning of the season, Jones mentioned how the biggest thing for him is knowing "what's the play and what's the purpose of the play?" Which to some of his critics sounded arrogant. Like he was being one of those malcontents who demands the boss explain every decision instead of just doing what they're being told to do. What they're being paid to do. But given the way things have played out in the months since, with the Patriots in the bottom third in pretty much all offensive metrics, I'd like to think the haters would give him some benefit of the doubt.
Like I've said from the beginning, Jones went to The Bolles School in Jacksonville and was coached by Corky Rogers. Coming out of there, he had options, and chose to go join an already crowded QB room in Alabama for Nick Saban. So any suggestion that he can't handle strong personalities telling him what to do is preposterous on its face. As he's said, he likes being ridden hard. (Stop it.) And has he's demonstrated, he responds well to tough coaching. That "purpose of the play" stuff reflects the thought processes of an analytic mind. Of a Big Picture Guy. A strategist, with a holistic approach to the hows and whys of beating NFL defenses designed to stop him. Which is exactly the kind of quarterback we had here from the Mo Lewis hit until the Logan Ryan Pick-6.
Lest anybody has forgotten this exchange, that went on weekly for 20 years:
The reason I wanted Mac Jones drafted is precisely because I trusted we'd be getting some version of this. And we did. Under McDaniels. Clearly by his words, his actions, and the results on the field, this season Jones hasn't been getting this style of coaching.
Fortunately, a solution may have presented itself. More from Perry:
Players wanting more from the coaching staff was a feeling that has persisted into the stretch run of the season, based on my understanding of the situation headed into the Cardinals game.
Individuals in the locker room felt as though they needed to do more to ensure that they were properly prepared. They planned on being more intentional with the coaching staff in their pursuit of the kinds of details required to have consistent offensive success.
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If so, and I'm assuming it is, I love it. A ragtag group of misfits, wanting to succeed but feeling like they're not getting the sort of leadership they should, band together, take charge on their own, and decide to run the outfit their way. The brass, the suits, and the administration be damned. The Dirty Dozen did it. The Mean Machine did it. Harry Potter went off and formed Dumbledore's Army to do it in secret. John Winger's platoon did it when Sgt. Hulka got blown up. And now Mac Jones's 2022 Patriots have started to do it.
He's taking the leadership role that has been rightfully his since he won the QB1 lob last year and was voted team captain this year. And Patricia had better keep up if he wants to avoid being reduced to anything more than a consultant role. If the defacto OC lacks the willingness or capacity to coach his players hard, they'll do it themselves. And hopefully be better for it.
And who knows? Maybe this will be a seminal event in Jones's career we all look back on. The moment he stopped being a young quarterback and became a veteran. The true coach-on-the-field team leader his biggest supporters (I raise my hand) expected him to become eventually. But that process had to be sped up due to the absence of one at the coordinator level. And who knows? Maybe this has been Belichick's master plan all along. The reason he didn't promote an offensive coach or hire Bill O'Brien back. The way Lee Marvin let the Dirty Dozen revolt by refusing to shave until they got hot water. And in doing so, watched them grow from a bunch of individuals into a cohesive unit ready to kick major Nazi ass. If so, this would be among his most brilliant moves. And that is saying something.