FOXBOROUGH – Mac Jones' back injury continues to be less of a concern three days after he initially suffered the injury in the Patriots' Week 1 loss to the Dolphins.
The Patriots' starting quarterback was a full participant at New England's practice on Wednesday, its first of the week in the leadup to its matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“It feels good,” Mac Jones said following Wednesday's practice. “Everything feels good. Just keeping it warm and throwing the football.”
“[I'm] just on the normal treatment plan,” Jones added. “I always like to work with my guy [Patriots athletic trainer] Brian [Dolan] and he does a good job. That’s what we always do. Whatever hurts during the game, just fix it and then play the next week.”
Mac Jones says he expects to play Sunday vs. Steelers pic.twitter.com/e524fUWGU6
— NBC Sports Boston's Patriots Coverage (@NBCSPatriots) September 14, 2022
Now that it's looking certain that Jones will play in Sunday's game, he'll certainly have his hand full when going up against the Steelers' defense. Pittsburgh forced five turnovers in its season-opening win over Cincinnati. In particular, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow had a rough day, throwing four interceptions and getting sacked seven times.
The Steelers will be without the reigning Defensive Player of the Year in defensive end T.J. Watt, who suffered a pectoral injury in Week 1 after recording a sack and an interception. But Jones realizes that Pittsburgh's defense is more than just Watt.
“I think it’s a super-talented defense,” Mac Jones said. “They play a lot of different coverages, definitely fly to the ball. Obviously, Minkah [Fitzpatrick] does a great job. I had some experience, he was my former teammate at Alabama, and I have a lot of respect for him and all the guys on their defense. He makes a lot of plays out there. They’ve got playmakers all over the field.
“It’s a really good defense to kind of go against. We don’t get to play against them a lot, but just got to be ready to go and correct the things we want to correct and focus on ourselves.”
Mac Jones doesn't look like he's suffering any ill effects from his back injury. He worked on handshakes with Damien Harris and then it appears that he was racing Matt Patricia at the start of drills 👀 pic.twitter.com/wsXvFHcabB
— The Camera Guys (@NBCSCameraGuys) September 14, 2022
If Watt is unable to defend his Defensive Player of the Year title, Fitzpatrick made a strong opening case to win the award in Week 1. The Steelers' safety returned an interception for a touchdown, recorded a game-high 14 total tackles, and blocked the extra-point attempt that would've won the game for the Bengals.
As Jones mentioned, the two were teammates in college at Alabama. Jones carried the respect that he had for Fitzpatrick back in college to the NFL as he prepares to face him for the first time.
“Minkah, he was like the epitome of just a great football player and person,” Jones said. “I looked up to him a lot at Alabama and he was a great team captain and leader on our team. Obviously, he’s done great things with the Steelers. You’ve just got to know where he’s at. He’s a great player. He makes really good plays.
“Off the field, he’s an even better person. That was something that I learned from him. Super easygoing, just really easy to talk to, friendly with everybody. So, I have a lot of respect for him.”
To make matters even more difficult for the Patriots' offense, they're coming off an uninspiring performance in their Week 1 loss. Jones completed 21 of 30 passes for 213 yards, throwing a touchdown and an interception as New England mustered up just seven points.
Week 1 was the first official chapter of New England's offensive struggles after the unit looked dysfunctional for much of training camp and the preseason. Jones believes that the issues that the Patriots' offense has had – such as communication, which led to two sacks (with one being a strip-sack) in Sunday's game – are easily fixable.
“It’s Week 1 and we did a lot of good things out there, and we’re moving in the right direction in practice,” Jones said. “A lot of the communication is improving and that’s what happens as the season goes along. You fix the things you want to work on and keep the things that you’re doing well. We feel confident about it and we just have to go out there and do it, really, there’s no talking to be done.”
Mac Jones' optimistic tone was similar to Bill Belichick's following Sunday's game. The Patriots coach believed that while two big plays made the difference in the 20-7 loss, his team played well enough to win in the other plays. New England committed three turnovers though and had just 271 yards of total offense.
Despite the early returns of the Matt Patricia-ran offense, Jones continued to emphasize that he and the rest of the Patriots' offense feel confident in the process, believing that the good plays will come.
“I think we all feel pretty good about it honestly,” Jones said. “I think early on we were trying to iron some things out but, at the end of the day, when we watch the tape, and when everyone does what they’re supposed to do, it’s a good play. When we don’t, it’s just not a good play. That’s football, and once you get the good plays over here and the bad plays over there and there’s not very many bad plays, then we’ll score points and like you’re saying, the results will come.
“But, it’s more about, can everybody do their job to stack up good plays. Can I get it to the right guy who makes his yards after catch? Can we block up front the blitzes, the stunts, all that stuff? It’s what we’re just working through and once we can do that, we’ll be good.”
Mac Jones and the Patriots will look to see if their confidence can carry over into Sunday's game when they travel to Pittsburgh.
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