It doesn't take a lot of inferencing skills or reading between the lines to come to the conclusion that New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones is extremely frustrated. As a disappointing second season in New England has gone on, Jones has become the poster child for the Patriots being impotent and seemingly without a plan on offense, with his anger at the situation becoming more and more evident with each passing week.
Instead of leading the Patriots to a potential playoff spot in spite of their offensive issues, Jones has now been left with a permanent place in arguably the most humiliating play in team history: After wide receiver Jakobi Meyers made an inexplicable decision to try and lateral the ball to Jones with the game tied and time expired, Jones was stiff-armed into oblivion trying to make a game-saving tackle on Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Chandler Jones, who then ran the ball back for a game-winning touchdown as Jones was left to pick himself up off the turf.
The brain-melting nature of the loss incensed many longtime Patriots, including Super Bowl LIII MVP Julian Edelman. Days after sharing his visceral initial reaction, Edelman made blunt and pointed criticisms of Mac Jones on "Inside the NFL," first taking issue with Jones' effort to try and tackle tackle Chandler Jones before expanding on his grievances.
"The season's on the line, you've got to trip him," Edelman said, following up on a point that Ray Lewis was trying to make about the play.
Fellow panelist Brandon Marshall responded by arguing that Jones doesn't practice making tackles, to which Edelman gave a blunt take on a pattern of behavior shown by the Patriots quarterback.
"You know what, he also doesn't practice all the antics after plays and waving off coaches and all these pissy faces and stuff," Edelman said. "He doesn't practice that, and he does it. Why can't he make the tackle? It's bad."
After longtime Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels left the team to become head coach of the Raiders, New England opted not to replace him with a true offensive coordinator, instead relying on a collaborative approach that entailed Matt Patricia and Joe Judge -- who had previously served as defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator, respectively -- overseeing the offense as well as Jones' development.
In the two games prior to Week 15, Jones' frustration had begun to boil over. During a 24-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills, Jones was seen shouting, "Throw the f--king ball! The f--king quick game sucks!" And even in a 27-13 victory over the Arizona Cardinals, Jones could be seen dropping multiple F bombs after Patriots offensive miscues.
Jones has had to bear the brunt of the Patriots' offensive ineptitude, which has contributed to them being 7-7 on the season with three games left to play. New England's passing game has been particularly poor, as it ranks 23rd in the NFL in passing yards per game and 30th in passing touchdowns.
