Josh McDaniels indicates Mac Jones is doing the right things as a leader
Mac Jones said he doesn’t think he’s being vocal enough with his teammates — that was one of the New England Patriots quarterback’s takeaways from the team’s 17-16 loss to the Miami Dolphins in Week 1.
But it’s also clear that Jones has a habit of being too hard on himself and of taking blame when it’s not entirely due in his direction. So it was interesting to hear what offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels thought about Jones’ comments about ratcheting up his leadership during practices.
“I think as a young player, you earn that right to do that with your teammates,” McDaniels said on Tuesday. “And you earn it through repeated performance, preparation and production. And so, I think he’s a very competitive guy. He wants to win at everything that he’s doing. He wants to perform his best every single day on every single rep. I think that’s a great trait and a great quality to have, not only as a football player but as a human being. We’re fortunate that he feels that way.
“I think relative pushing himself and demanding the most from himself, I think that’s obviously the No. 1 way to lead – you show everybody else that you’re going to hold yourself to a very high standard, and then you’re going to try to bring others along if you see the opportunity to do so.”
Jones used practice as an opportunity to display leadership just last week, with tackle Trent Brown sharing that Jones has repeatedly paused practice after errors to redo the repetition to make sure it is closer to perfect.
“I think he’s a young guy, it’s his first year, it’s his first regular-season game,” McDaniels said on Tuesday. “I think he probably wants to improve in a lot of things, which he has room for growth, and improvement not only as a football player but as a guy who is a leader in the offensive huddle, a guy that has certainly a lot of say in terms of how we’re going to play. So I think he probably was speaking about motivating our group, specifically when he’s with them, to just get the maximum amount out of everybody in whatever we’re talking about – a walkthrough, a practice, a game, a quarter, a series, a drive, a play. So I’m eager to continue to work with him in every area. Like I said, I’m excited that he certainly wasn’t happy with the outcome the other day and is looking forward to preparing hard for the Jets.”
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