Mac Jones wants to go back to being “Alabama Mac.”
That’s what the Patriots quarterback told Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer recently. Jones led Alabama to a national championship as a senior and was named a consensus All-American in 2020. So, it’s probably a good idea.
But what does being “Alabama Mac” entail?
“I think just continuing to work hard and be myself and going out there and distributing the ball,” Jones said on WEEI’s Jones and Mego with Arcand” show. “We have great playmakers here. And I feel like I did my best at Alabama when I just got the ball to other people and let them make plays. So that’s what it all comes down to. It’s pretty simple.
“Just be a point guard and let them go and make all the plays and score the touchdowns and then celebrate with offensive line. That’s what it’s all about for me is everybody coming together and enjoying your success. That’s a big part of it. It’s hard to score in this league. You want to score as many times as you can.”
The Patriots have a wide array of offensive skill-position players in their offense from running backs Rhamondre Stevenson and Ezekiel Elliott to wide receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster, DeVante Parker, Kendrick Bourne, Demario Douglas and Tyquan Thornton and tight ends Hunter Henry and Mike Gesicki. But this is the NFL.
And when Jones was dominating at Alabama, he had three future first-round picks at his disposal in running back Najee Harris and wide receivers DeVonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle. The offense also featured future second-round pick John Metchie at wide receiver and another NFL starting running back in Brian Robinson.
Jones referenced his time at Alabama again when talking about his connection with new Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien. Jones was asked if O’Brien — whose last job was at Alabama — frequently brought up what he did as OC the last time he held the position with the Patriots over 10 years ago.
“It’s the Patriots, but for me it’s Alabama too,” Jones said. “Not to bring up the past too much, but he’s seen the system that I ran at Alabama. Then obviously what he did here early on, you know, 2007 or whatever it was, and those years. So he has a lot of knowledge of not only this system but Alabama’s system and things that I’ve done in the past. So that’s cool for me. And a lot of the guys on our team really respect that about him. Because he can come in and be like, ‘Hey, we tried this versus this team’ and and he’ll pull up the film of it or, ‘We really liked this play versus that look.’
“So I think that’s a good point that that the whole team really respects it because he has a lot of experience not only at the pro level as a head coach but as a coordinator here for the Patriots, at Alabama, as a head coach in college. So he’s kind of done a lot of different things, which is really cool.”
Jones feels like he has two-way communication with O’Brien and that he can suggest changes, as well. O’Brien never coached Jones at Alabama, but they did forge a relationship as they crossed over from the 2020 to 2021 seasons.
“I’d say like he’s really good about pulling up all the old film and making sure that everything’s sound, and that’s another great point,” Jones said. “It’s like, ‘Hey, can we try this?’ And he’s always very open to trying things especially during practice. But at the end of the day, I know he’s the coach and he’s gonna make the right calls in the game, But it’s definitely a partnership like you said.
“You want to be able to work together regardless of who your coach is every time you go out there. To have the trust in him and then him to trust you to do the right thing. So still building that. We have a lot of stuff we got to work through. But at the same time, I’ve been really pleased with a lot of the progress we made from before OTAs to OTAs to training camp to kind of putting it into a game.”
Jones is trying to regain the success he had as a rookie with the Patriots when he led the team to the playoffs. The team dropped off last season as Matt Patricia and Joe Judge replaced ex-offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.