Patriots QB Mac Jones needs to shed the douchy dirty player label

New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones continues to take criticism this season as his antics on the field becomes more magnified.

First, it was Patriots legends like Vince Wilfork and Julian Edelman calling him out for a lack of leadership, now former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason expressed his annoyance with Jones.  The struggles on the field with an inconsistent offense is one thing, but the measure of a quarterback in the NFL is how they learn and grow when things aren’t going great.

Although Jones was a bit better on Sunday in the team’s win over the Miami Dolphins, Esiason pinpointed Jones’ outbursts on the field over the past few weeks.  While the frustration is understandable, how he’s handling it is not giving Mac Jones a good look at all.

"“Here’s the thing that I really dislike about Mac Jones if you want to get to the root of it:  His body language, his facial expressions, his gyrations on the field piss me off,” Esiason said during an appearance on WEEI’s Greg Hill Show.  “There’s a douchiness to him.  I don’t know how how else to explain it.  Here’s the deal:  Tom Brady can be douchey too at times.  He can be yelling at his players and everything else, but Tom Brady then goes out and backs it up.  He goes and plays his a** off and gets his team to the playoffs again yesterday.”"

Patriots QB Mac Jones needs to to show more emotional control

Basically, what Esaison is saying that that Jones hasn’t earned that right to lash out, especially when he isn’t particularly playing that great.  Now anyone who is a Mac Jones supporter may say the play calling and offensive approach of Matt Patricia has caused that regression, but still the leader in Jones must collect himself and try to part of the solution and not further highlight the problem.

Esiason went on to mention quarterbacks needing to have a “backbone.”  When things aren’t going well, he need to prosper through and focus on being better the next drive.  Instead, Jones has let those emotions get to him and impact his ability to make plays.

Now Sunday against the Dolphins he did struggle.  His accuracy was off, but he did show that “backbone” and went out and made good throws when needed.  There were a couple of nice passes to rookie wide receiver Tyquan Thornton, a nice flow with tight end Hunter Henry and touchdown pass to a leaping Jakobi Meyers.  These were all glimpses of the quarterback Mac Jones has shown to be during his rookie season with the Patriots and the Mac Jones the team will need if indeed they make the playoffs.

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Is he truly a douch bag or even a dirty player? Both are a bit extreme, but until Jones shows consistency game-to-game as a quarterback who can deliver and make the right reads, those associations are going to stick out until he shows more composure on the field and take control of the offense like he did on Sunday.

"“I didn’t play as good as I wanted to in the middle of the game,” Jones said following the Patriots victory.  “I thought our guys just kept fighting.  We made some big plays in some big moments.  That’s what the NFL is all about.”"

The NFL will also criticize you as quickly as they praise you.  Mac Jones is learning that this year with the New England Patriots.  It’s a tough love that should make him better and a stronger quarterback.  If it doesn’t, well perhaps some critics are right in saying he is not the guy…at least in Foxboro playing for a coach like Bill Belichick.