Chris Simms: Mac Jones went behind Bill Belichick’s back to fix offense
Mac Jones reportedly attempted toź¦¦ take matters into his own hands to fix a sputtering Patriots offense.
According to NBC Sports and Pro Football Talk analyst Chris Simms, Jones went behind Bill Belichickās back in search of solutions. Mike Floriļ·ŗo, who hosted the segment with Simms, said that Belichick made āJones aware of it,ā causing the outside conversations to stop during an 8-9 season that ended without a postseason berth.
āMac Jones wasnāt happy,ā Simms said āHe was telling people he wasnāt happy. He was calling people about, āHey, can you help uš½s with ideas and do stuff like that?ā
āFrom my understanding, Belichick found out all these things. He found out that Mac was talking to people, and all this, and there was some back-channel conversations going on behind Belichickās back. And I think thatās where it did get personal.”
Itās another twist to start the offseason for the Patriots, a period of time thatāll reportedly feature changes after a meeting between Belichick and owner Robert Kraft. Tension has already emerged, with the reporting that players āunderstand that Jones and the offense were put in terrible positions by Belichickš this season.ā
Belichick also didnāt commit to Jones as the teamās starter for 2023 during his end-of-season press conference, instead opting for a line about how Jones āhas the abilityā to play quarterback in this leaguše.“
Following a promising rookie season, Jonesā production went backwards in 2022. The Patriots didnāt name a true offensive coordinator ā instead opting for longtime defensive coordinator Matt Patricia after dragging the play-caller decision into training camp and the preseason ā and they topped 30 points just once all year. That led to New England failing to reach the postseš„šason for the second time in the last three seasons.
Jones also suffered a high-ankle sprain during New Englandās Week 3 loss to Baltimore, causing him to miss the next three games. That was when the quarterback drama bšegan as rookie Bailey Zappe quarterbacked the Patriots to a 2-0 mark as the starter while Jones was out. Zappe completed 73 percent of his passes for 596 yards and four touchdowns, with just one interception, in that span.
When Jones returned on Oct. 24, Zappe replaced the former first-round pick out of Alabama after Belichick benched the latter. Jones regained his starting role, but only helped Nš¼ew England generate š¦a 5-5 record the rest of the season.
The Patriotšs still had a chance to squeak into the postseason with a Week 18 win over the Bills, but Buffalo returned two kickoffs for toucš ·hdowns and defeated New England, 35-23.