The Patriot Way became the description for the process that produced six Super Bowl victories in 18 seasons for the New England Patriots with Bill Belichick as coach and Tom Brady as quarterback.
During that span, New England played in the Super Bowl nine times and reached the AFC Championship Game 13 times.
But the Jacksonville Jaguars aren’t interested in quarterback Mac Jones’ “Patriot ways” after obtaining the former Alabama All-American in a trade with New England in March.
Jones has nailed down the backup job behind Trevor Lawrence for the 2024 season in Jacksonville. During three preseason games, Jones completed 38-of-52 passes for 421 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Jones led the AFC in passing yards, and his 115.9 passing-efficiency rating was the best in the NFL during the preseason.
“Mac has played extremely well in the last couple of weeks and really is bought into what we do,” Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said after Jacksonville’s preseason finale. “He’ll still revert back to his Patriot ways every now and then, and we got to remind him he’s in Jacksonville. But he’s done a good job. He’s done a good job managing and running the offense, getting everybody involved. He sees the field well, throws a good ball, so he’s done a good job.”
New England picked Jones at No. 15 in the 2021 NFL Draft after one year without Brady. In his first season, Jones started every game as he went to the Pro Bowl and the Patriots went to the playoffs.
But as circumstances deteriorated around Jones, New England posted an 8-17 record in games he started in his final two seasons, and Jones’ interception rate climbed to 3.5 percent of his passes while his touchdown-pass rate dropped to 2.9 percent in his final season.
The Jaguars made Lawrence the No. 1 pick in the same draft that included Jones 14 selections later. In his rookie year, when Jones had 22 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions, Lawrence had 12 touchdown passes and 17 interceptions. In his first two seasons working with Pederson, Lawrence had 46 touchdown passes and 22 interceptions.
C.J. Beathard had served as Lawrence’s backup throughout the former Clemson standout’s three seasons. But Beathard was released last week with an injury settlement when Jacksonville reduced its preseason roster to the regular-season limit, leaving Lawrence and Jones as the Jaguars’ active quarterbacks, with rookie John Rhys Plumlee on the practice squad.
The Jaguars will kick off their season against the Miami Dolphins at noon CDT Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
