Why Belichick Tore Mac Jones a New One in Practice and How That Spells Doom for the Rest of Football

It's been a weird preseason for the Patriots. Not in terms of controversies or getting their work in. By all accounts, the camp has been blissfully low on drama and high on the slow, steady improvement you hope for as everyone gets acclimated to the play book and working together. So all is well there.

I just mean in terms of scheduling. The 3-game preseason is still taking some getting used to. And with their only home game in Week 1, it felt like they no sooner showed up before they were off to Green Bay for joint practices and Saturday night's game. 

And while I like watching practices as much as the next guy, if my job doesn't require me to leave my idyllic home by the ocean in August to spent a week in Wisconsin, I'm staying right where I am. 

The downside of that is I have to rely on the reports of others. But by golly, that's a price I'm willing to pay to drink beers on the beach all day and have a short walk home. (There are limits to my selflessness). 

Anyway, all this means I missed the whole incident where Bill Belichick went scorched Earth on Mac Jones for a two-minute drill gone wrong. Fortunately, Mark Daniels of MassLive took copious notes for all of us. And makes and outstanding point about Jones' reaction to getting his ass chewed out by the best ever to do it:

Source - The Patriots were operating a 2-minute drill and it wasn’t a clean series for Jones and the offense. The pass rush put immense pressure on Jones, the receivers weren’t always separating and apparently, Bill Belichick wasn’t thrilled with his quarterback. This drill ended with Nick Folk kicking a field goal, but the Patriots coach was so upset he had his offense run back on the field to replay a down. ...

This moment brought up memories of last fall. Jones didn’t hide his displeasure when things went wrong for the Patriots offense. ... It also appeared that his coaches (Belichick, Matt Patricia and Joe Judge) weren’t thrilled with him, either.

It was a situation that was an unmitigated disaster. That’s why Jones’ performance – 24 hours after being yelled at by Belichick – was incredibly encouraging.

Jones put together the best practice of the summer on Thursday in Green Bay. He undoubtedly had his best pass of training camp. The Patriots starting quarterback looked different this afternoon. A day after getting reamed out by his head coach, Jones finished 14-of-17 against the Packers defense and delivered two highlight worthy throws that had his teammates celebrating on the field and sideline.

And to his undying credit, has been keeping the stats:

Cause. Effect. Jones gets ripped a new one by his coach. Jones responds with the best practice of his young life against the Packers' defense who had even less interest in going easy on him than Belichick did. And that is on top of more than a week and a half of being in total command of Bill O'Brien's system. 

Which serves to demonstrate what utter bullshit it was when sources >cough Matt Patricia cough cough< were telling anyone who'd listen that he was mentally weak and emotionally fragile and they were being told to "go easy" on him. While also proving what Jones himself said late in the season:

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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."

And here we can see for ourselves. Which is to say, hear what people who saw for themselves have to say. He goes 14-for-17, including a highlight package 50-yard TD bomb to DeVante Parker over Rasul Douglas. 

All the frauds who took Jones' freakouts directed at Matt Patricia to mean he's a little hothouse flower with the delicate sensibilities of a British socialite are only proving their own ignorance. Before he was coached by Belichick, he chose to play for Nick Saban, who doesn't experience human emotions, much less worry about them. Before Hail Saban, his high school coach was the legendary Corky Rogers. These three didn't climb to the summit of Mount Greatness by wasting time pampering their quarterbacks and they weren't about to start with this one. Fortunately for us, nobody has to. 

Ride Mac Jones and put him up wet and you'll get nothing but greatness.