McDaniels confident in offense in clutch situations
Josh McDaniels said he has the confidence in Mac Jones and his offensive personnel to make plays and pick up a key fourth-down conversion if needed during a game.
But whether it was taking a knee with 1:30 left before the half during the Cowboys overtime loss, or not going for it on fourth down, the Patriots offensive coordinator said he defers those decisions to Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.
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“I never am going to argue with the decisions that are made in those situations,” McDaniels said during a video call with the media Tuesday. “I know we’ve used those situations to our advantage in the past, but we’ve also had situations where we’ve done what we did. So, when those decisions are made, I just try to do the best that we can offensively to execute whatever our part is, and hopefully we can help the team on both sides of it.
“If it’s to try to be aggressive there, we’ll do the best we can,” he said. “If it’s not, then … do better than we did at the beginning of the third quarter.”
McDaniels said the organization hasn’t changed its philosophy in terms of being aggressive or going for it on certain fourth-down plays. He indicated that Belichick considers a lot of factors before making what he considers the best decision for the team.
And yet, after the Cowboys loss, Belichick & Co. have come under fire for being much too conservative with the game on the line.
“Our job is always to be ready to go,” said McDaniels. “If he says go for it on 4thand-10, we’re going to go for it on 4th-and-10. If he says go for it on 4th-and-2, we’re going to be ready to go for it on 4th-and-2 … whatever Bill decides in those situations, we have to do a good job of being ready to execute our part of it, whether we’re going for it, or not.”
Jones impresses
Jones’ fan club continues to grow in wake of his performance during Sunday night’s overtime loss to the Cowboys.
His ability to shake off a pick-six late in the game, and throw a 75-yard touchdown pass to Kendrick Bourne during the very next series spoke volumes to anyone watching.
McDaniels loved the resilience shown by his rookie quarterback.
“He’s a tough guy. I’ve seen him grow, I’ve seen our group grow,” said McDaniels. “We talk a lot about mental and physical toughness and how much of that is required in this league, to actually compete and win against good teams.”
Obviously, the interception wasn’t good as the Patriots were trying to run out the clock, but in McDaniels’ mind, the response was the most important part in terms of Jones growing as a quarterback.
“I thought he responded with the mental toughness that you want to see from your quarterback. He wasn’t super discouraged. He knew we still had time in the game to go out there and make a difference,” said McDaniels, “and I thought he made a great play on the touchdown pass to Kendrick. And, again, he’s done that since he’s been here.
“Rookies make mistakes every day,” he went on. “Part of being a rookie is understanding those things are going to happen, and you can’t go in the tank, you can’t let that ruin the rest of the day at practice, or let that ruin the rest of the half in a game. You have to be able to pick yourself up, and move on and try to play better football as the game goes along and I thought he did that.”
Jones completed 15 of 21 passes for 229 yards with two TDs and one interception in the 35-29 overtime loss to Dallas.
Stevenson emerges
Rookie running back Rhamondre Stevenson emerged as a pass catcher during the Cowboys game.
Stevenson, who had been in the doghouse after fumbling in the season opener against the Dolphins, has been steadily improving both in the run game, as well as catching passes out of the backfield since his return to the lineup.
Against the Cowboys, he had five carries for 23 yards and a touchdown. He also caught three passes for 39 yards.
Asked about Stevenson’s pass-catching ability during a video call with reporters, McDaniels said the rookie has “soft hands and is a natural catcher of the football.”
With James White out for the season, adding Stevenson to the pass-catching mix will certainly help.
“He’s always had good hands … when he got here, he could catch the ball well,” said McDaniels. “He’s learning how to be a better routerunner. There’s detail required in those things. Sometimes when you come from different college systems, what they ask you to do, and what we ask you to do might be a little different.
“So, he’s just bought in to what we’ve tried to do with him in the passing game, tried to run good routes, be where he’s supposed to be, and be ready for the football.”
Achord takes blame
Patriots special teams coach Cam Achord fell on the sword and took responsibility for the Patriots already having two punts blocked, including one against the Cowboys.
“It all starts with me, I’ll be completely honest,” he said. “I have to make sure I’m doing a good job teaching and making sure the guys understand the fundamentals and how we want to go about picking up the protections, so it all falls back to me, getting that corrected. “
Winovich to IR
The Patriots signed DB Myles Bryant off the practice squad. They could have used him in Sunday’s game when both Jonathan Jones and Adrian Phillips got banged up.
The team also placed OLB Chase Winovich on injured reserve. He suffered a hamstring injury against the Cowboys. The Patriots also signed K Riley Patterson, who was in for a tryout last week, to the practice squad. With Nick Folk on the injury report dealing with a knee problem, Riley is insurance.
Meanwhile, according to CBS Sports, the PatriotsCowboys game Sunday was the most-streamed NFL regular-season contest ever.