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For the most part, New England Patriots rookie quarterback Mac Jones does things the right way.
He’s seemingly selfless, accountable and he always has his teammates’ back–even when they have made an error. If there is an area where Jones’ leadership skills could use some improvement, it’s in the way he handles his own mistakes.
The rookie is notoriously hard on himself and we’ve seen it immediately after bad throws or interceptions–especially the latter. Jones threw a pretty costly pick-six on Sunday in the Patriots’ thrilling, but crushing 35-29 overtime loss to the Dallas Cowboys, and the quarterback’s reaction created a little conversation about his facial expressions during tough times.
Does Mac Jones Need to Improve His Body Language?
NBC Sports’ Tom E. Curran talked about Jones’ facial expressions immediately after the pick-six from his former college teammate Trevon Diggs.
Here is a look at the pick. For a few moments, you get a good look at Jones’ face.
As you probably know, Jones responded like a champ with this 75-yard TD strike to Kendrick Bourne on the next play from scrimmage:
This comeback showed incredible toughness from Jones.
It makes no sense questioning that about the rookie’s character, but it’s also undeniable that he looks as if he’s in a state of panic and absolute despair after an error.
Is that something the coaching staff or his teammates simply should leave alone, or does he run the risk of losing their trust?
It’s hard to say. Jones has gotten this far in his football career by following a certain process. Unfortunately, a part of that process is getting down on himself after a mistake.
What many athletes who are hard on themselves don’t realize is that dwelling on your own miscues for too long is selfish. It may not appear that way, but the longer a player spends sulking and beating themselves up, the longer it takes for them to shift the focus back to helping the team win the game at hand.
To Jones’ credit, he did that, but perhaps he’s going to work on limiting the outward reactions that make him sometimes appear pitiful.
Mac Jones’ Offensive Line Isn’t Helping Him Out
Jones shouldn’t have been the only player on the Patriots’ offense taking themselves to task. The offensive line served Jones up to hungry Cowboys pass rushers far too often.
Pat’s Pulpit’s Oliver Thomas talked about the Patriots’ O-Line’s struggles on Sunday.
He wrote:
The Patriots cleared left tackle Isaiah Wynn off the Covid-19 reserve list on the eve of Sunday’s 4:25 p.m. ET kickoff after six practices and one game away. But the 2018 first-round pick out of Georgia would not be in the starting lineup against the Cowboys. Justin Herron instead got the nod for a second week as the blindside protector in place of Wynn, who had played every offensive snap through four contests. Next to the swing option, standard elevation James Ferentz started at left guard, David Andrews started at center, Ted Karras started at right guard and Yodny Cajuste started at right tackle. New England’s O-line combination would be subject to change shortly after Cowboys defensive end Randy Gregory screamed off the right side to for a decleating strip-sack. Wynn and fellow Covid-19 activation Mike Onwenu subbed in at New England’s tackle spots with five minutes remaining before intermission. Gregory then road-graded his way off the left side to a register a second sack on third down. Dallas logged five quarterback hits during the visit to Foxborough.
It’s safe to say the O-Line’s problems are a bit more detrimental to the Patriots’ success than Jones’ facial expressions.
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