Mac Jones is usually a cliché machine during postgame press conferences. After the Patriots’ loss to the Colts on Saturday, however, he was far more candid than usual – which drew strong blowback from an ex-Patriot.
After the 27-17 defeat, in which the Colts ran over New England, Jones told reporters the team had a bad week of practice and were not well prepared in surprisingly candid remarks.
“I just think we, starting with me, the energy was kind of low, maybe like feeling a little sorry for ourselves because we’re coming off the bye and stuff,” Jones said. “Not to get into details, but we just didn’t practice well, and that just reflects how we played. And I didn’t practice good, and I know a lot of guys on our team felt the same way.”
Ted Johnson, who played linebacker for the Patriots from 1995 to 2004, had a strong reaction to Jones’ comments.
“I was surprised by that because it was so off-script for Mac Jones,” Johnson said on NBC10 Boston’s “Sports Sunday”.
“He’s always stuck to the script — cliché 101. This time he went off script and I was really surprised to hear him say that we were feeling sorry for ourselves. About what? You just came off a bye week. Is it because you played on a Monday night and then you had to play on a Saturday night? Get over it, boys. It’s ring-chasing time now.
“And him saying they had a bad week of practice and that their energy level was low — you’re a rookie, keep your mouth shut. That’s not going to play well in the locker room.”
Johnson, who is a host for 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston, then went a step further, offering up conspiracy theories as to where exactly those Mac Jones quotes were coming from.
“My feeling is Bill Belichick probably had him say it,” Johnson said. “I think Bill Belichick wanted the message to go through Mac Jones, call out his players. It would be atypical of Bill this year to come down really hard on this team. So, to me, that was some orders from Bill because I can’t imagine Mac Jones going off script like he did, criticizing the team’s energy and their preparation going into this week. When you’re a rookie quarterback, you’re not supposed to say stuff like that.”
Belichick, for his own part, was especially short with reporters after the loss. He then pulled the unprecedented move of apologizing on Monday morning.
“Look, fellas, I apologize if I seemed like I was a little short with you after the game,” Belichick said on Monday. “You know, obviously a frustrating game, down 20 to nothing, didn’t do anything well enough. I mean, there isn’t really much to say at that point without watching the film.
