Belichick loving ‘competitive spirit’ of rookie Jones
Has no issue with young QB’s fearless play
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick doesn’t sound too upset with Mac Jones for getting his uniform dirty during Sunday’s 25-6 win over the Jets.
PATRIOTS NOTEBOOK
During his weekly appearance on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” on Monday, Belichick was asked if he was in the camp who enjoyed seeing his rookie quarterback throw his body around, or if he frowned at seeing Jones put himself in harm’s way.
The question was in reference to Jones third quarter exploits, first charging down the field to help push the pile to get Damien Harris in the end zone on the back’s 26yard touchdown run, then later helping spring Kendrick Bourne with his block on an end-around.
How does a quarterback balance protecting himself, with also trying to help out the team, Belichick was ultimately asked?
“Football is a game of decision making. We have a lot of competitive players, and they’re all trying to do things to help the team win. So, they just have to make good decisions on those situations,” said Belichick. “But, being out front of a reverse, that’s kind of part of the play.
“I don’t know how much help Damien needed on the run, but Mac’s a competitive guy, and you love to see his competitive spirit come out.”
Belichick pointed out that Jets rookie quarterback Zach Wilson also showed that competitiveness going after Patriots safety Devin McCourty following an interception.
“So, those are guys that like to play football,” said Belichick. “As long as a play’s going on, it seems like they’re a part of it. So it’s probably a good thing.”
Jones, appearing on WEEI later in the day, thought Harris made a good run, and had good blocking along his 26yard touchdown ride. In retrospect, Jones said he probably didn’t need to help give him a push, but it was in the moment.
“Damien was held up at the half yard line. I think he probably would have gotten in anyways, I just ran down there and shoved him in, but everyone else was pushing too,” said Jones. “It was a giant team effort, like rugby or something. It was good to score.”
RT not a concern
Jones felt some heat from the Jets pass rush, as he was sacked three times during Sunday’s win.
He was only sacked once against Miami, but absorbed at least nine quarterback hits while being pressured constantly by the Dolphins. The good news? Jones was only hit twice delivering the ball against the Jets, although pressure came fairly consistently from the right side.
Starting right tackle Yasir Durant had a pretty rough go, allowing all three sacks, before giving way to Justin Herron.
Durant was filling in for Trent Brown, who suffered a calf injury during the first series of the opening loss to Miami.
Durant had come on to sub in for Brown’s initial replacement, Herron, who struggled against the Dolphins before getting the hook.
In either case, both Durant and Herron have had some issues.
Bill Belichick, however, didn’t seem overly concerned about the situation when asked about it during his media call Monday, and still didn’t sound as if he would move Mike Onwenu over from left guard.
Perhaps Brown, who practiced toward the end of the week, will return against the Saints, which would help solve the problem.
“I think we’re alright here. We got three players that have played (right tackle). I think they’ve all done some good things. Trent, not very much in the last two games, but we know Trent can do a a good job over there,” said Belichick. “Yasir and Justin have both done a solid job there. We’ve had some breakdowns at really all spots on the line, all spots offensively, it’s just we lacked some consistency even though we have a lot of good plays, we move the ball, and put ourselves into positive field position.”
Even though it sure seemed like Durant was yanked during the Jets game, Belichick indicated the plan was to play both Durant and Herron.
“They both got some good experience. They both had a lot of good plays,” said Belichick. “So, we’ll see where we are this week and go from there.”
For the record, Belichick also didn’t seem too bothered about his run defense, or lack of such.
Here’s what he said about their tackling: “There were times it was good, and we missed a few.”
Hoyer high praise
Brian Hoyer has a variety of roles along with being the backup quarterback. He’s a mentor to Mac Jones, but also assists Bill Belichick given his knowledge of other teams and their systems.
“Brian adds a lot of good insight . . . how other teams defensively do things, because they’re all different. Brian helps me with things that he’s seen, he’s been with a lot of other teams, been with other coaches, been in other systems, and we talk about plays and situations,” said Belichick. “He has a lot of good ideas or recollections of the way somebody else did something, which might be something to learn from, or it might be something we can use, and so forth, so, really, he’s been good.”
He’s also helped guide Jones, and his knowledge of the offense has also allowed for the rookie to take more reps in practice.
“Brian’s been able to go in there and execute the offense when he’s needed to, whether that be in a preseason game or practice without taking a ton of reps so we can give more of those to Mac,” said Belichick. “That’s really worked out well, too.”