Mac Jones is coming off one of his worst games as a pro, having thrown for 150 yards and two interceptions, including a pick-6, in the New England Patriots’ blowout loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
Jones was benched for second-year backup Bailey Zappe during the third quarter, but Bill Belichick has already said the 2021 first-round pick will be back starting this weekend against the New Orleans Saints.
Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien backed up Jones during a conversation with reporters Tuesday.
“Mac is a battler,” O’Brien said, via NESN. “He is a competitor. When you play quarterback in this league, you have to limit the mistakes and you have to limit the bad games you have, obviously. We’re all in it together. We have to do a better job of coaching up some things with him. He has to do a better job of making good decisions for us. He knows that. He takes a lot of ownership — you guys saw that, I think, after the game.
“He blames himself. The game wasn’t lost because of one guy. The game was lost, on our part, because of how poorly we played and coached in the game. Mac is here today, he’s working very hard to get back on the right track. We have a lot of belief in Mac.”
Patriots OC Bill O’Brien on QB Mac Jones:
“Mac is a battler. He is a competitor. When you play quarterback in this league, you have to limit the mistakes and you have to limit the bad games you have, obviously. We’re all in it together. We have to do a better job of coaching up… pic.twitter.com/gwqXy7y8i7
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) October 3, 2023
O’Brien also conceded that Jones’ decision-making was poor against Dallas, seemingly atypically so.
He’s expecting the third-year signal caller to bounce back moving forward though.
“But I thought that last game, for Mac, some of the decisions that he made were very uncharacteristic of Mac,” O’Brien said. “I think he’ll get back to doing it the way he knows how to do it. He’s just trying to make a play, he’s wanting to win, he’s very competitive. “Maybe the plays weren’t great. So I have to be involved in that, big-time, with him. I understand that. I think you’ll see a lot of improvement in Mac as we keep moving forward here.”
The Saints and Patriots will kick off at 1 p.m. ET Sunday.