The end of the New England Patriots' first joint practice with the Green Bay Packers reportedly didn't go too well.
New England's defense got torched for a big touchdown while the Patriots' offense petered out during the two-minute drill. After the Patriots had to settle for a field goal, Bill Belichick reportedly wanted their offense to have just one last crack in the final seconds of the drill. On the last play, Mac Jones missed an open Kendrick Bourne, reportedly leading Belichick to get upset.
However, Belichick downplayed the incident during his first weekly interview with WEEI's “The Greg Hill Show.”
“I don’t think I put the heat on anybody,” Belichick responded. “There are things that we need to correct and work out. That’s just coaching.”
Jones also took accountability after practice that day, saying he also wanted to get things right without explaining too much of what exactly went wrong.
“It was my fault. I think it was just a miscommunication between all of us,” Jones told reporters following Wednesday's joint practice. “It was fine. It was a good learning experience. It’s too hard to explain in football terms to the media and stuff, but it was kind of a nuance, because we kind of repeated a situation we just did, you know what I’m saying? That’s what we need though, so both teams can get the situation, try and practice it and then do it again to get it right.”
Mac Jones asked about Bill Belichick getting heated after he messed up a play due to a 'miscommunication' on offense#Patriots #Packers pic.twitter.com/nTBM6kukS3
— Patriots on CLNS Media (@PatriotsCLNS) August 16, 2023
While both Belichick and Jones downplayed the incident, there was some reason to think a bit more of it at first. There was reported tension between both the head coach and quarterback late in the 2022 season over the handling of the team's offensive coordinator situation. Jones even sought outside help at one point, which led Belichick to be unhappy, according to ProFootballTalk.
But Jones has stated that the 2023 season is a clean slate for him and Belichick noted that he has a good relationship with all of his players because if he didn't, they wouldn't be on the team.
Whether it was part of the reconciliation process or not, Belichick opted to hire an actual offensive coordinator over the offseason, bringing in Bill O'Brien to replace the Matt Patricia-Joe Judge tandem. Bringing in O'Brien was seen as a vast improvement for many, though there is some reasonable concern that Jones playing under three different offensive coaches in his first three seasons isn't ideal.
Belichick didn't seem too concerned with that though when asked on Monday.
“Mac’s a pretty flexible guy,” Belichick said. “He’s smart, gets along well with everybody. I wouldn’t expect that to be a problem.”