Doug Pederson must still be riding the high of a Super Bowl 52 victory if he is comfortable taking shots at the Patriots over Mac Jones’ development.
Pederson, who bested Bill Belichick to win a championship for the Eagles six years ago, is now the Jaguars head coach.
Unlike Belichick, he seems to be bringing the best out of Jones, who flopped in three years as the Patriots starting quarterback.
“Mac has played extremely well the last couple of weeks and really has bought into what we do,” Pederson said Friday after the Jaguars routed the Falcons, 31-0. “He’ll still revert back to his Patriot ways every now and then and we got to remind him he’s in Jacksonville.”
Maybe Pederson meant the remark tongue-in-cheek, but it’s sure to hit a sore spot.
Jones was the No. 15 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft but was traded after last season for a sixth-rounder in 2024.
Jones is the backup to Trevor Lawrence, who was the No. 1 pick in 2021.
“He’s done a good job,” Pederson said. “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.”
Jones completed 38-of-52 passes and three touchdowns in three preseason games.
It’s the first hint at promise since he made the Pro Bowl as a rookie, going winning 10 of 17 starts with 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
It was all downhill from there.
The Patriots started fresh after last season, elevating assistant coach Jerod Mayo to replace Belichick and adding Jacoby Brissett and drafting Drake Maye with the No. 3 pick.
Jones is part of a quarterback room with Lawrence, C.J. Beathard and E.J. Perry.
When talking about the dynamic between the quartet, Jones seemed to take a shot at what Belichick set up waffling between Jones and Bailey Zappe.
“We compete in every other regard, but at the end of the day, we’re on the same team,” Jones said last week. “We’re all working for a common goal. And that’s every good team that I’ve been on. That’s the case, you know. But the bad ones, not so much.”
The Jaguars better meet high expectations in 2024 or Belichick – in his new role as a NFL analyst – could have an opportunity to fire back at Pederson.
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