Jaguars Star Offers Advice To Mac Jones Before QB’s Massive Opportunity
With the increased unlikelihood of Trevor Lawrence getting the green light for Sunday’s Week 10 matchup between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Minnesota Vikings, it is seemingly more probable that Mac Jones will get the start.
Lawrence continues to deal with a left shoulder injury, opening the door for Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson to hand off the starting quarterback duties to Jones. Jones, who the Jaguars acquired this past offseason via trade from the New England Patriots, is the next man up and the 26-year-old has eagerly awaited his opportunity to contribute. Jones made 11 starts last season for Bill Belichick and made just two appearances this season without logging a single start yet in a Jaguars uniform.
Jacksonville’s locker room, however, is pulling for Jones heading into Sunday.
“Mac Jones is bringing a new sense of life right now,” teammate Travis Etienne Jr. told reporters Thursday, per Jamal St. Cyr of News4Jax. “Just with the way this season’s been going and then Trev’s hurt. I feel like Mac Jones is gonna just — we ain’t got (expletive) to lose honestly, so it’s like go out there, sling the ball, be free, be yourself, show the world who Mac Jones is and let the team rally and help you.”
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Jones, so far, has thrown for 28 yards, completing 6-of-9 pass attempts with no touchdowns or interceptions, appearing in both Week 6 against the Chicago Bears and Week 3 against the Buffalo Bills. Jacksonville has already sunk to the bottom of the AFC South, sitting there with a 2-7 record, leaving a paper-thin load of pressure on Jones’ shoulders.
Getting the nod would mark the first start Jones has made since Week 12 of 2023 against the New York Jets when Jones completed 12-of-21 passes for 89 yards with two interceptions for the Patriots. From there, New England benched Jones for its remaining six games, signaling the beginning of the end for Jones in Foxboro.
“We watched the film. There’s definitely things to clean up each week but it’s really just the mentality and everybody playing together and we’ve done that well,” Jones told reporters Thursday, per team-provided video. “… I feel like we’ve played together and it’s just gonna click one of these days and we just gotta keep bringing the juice and execution, and once you do that together as 11 people then good things will happen. You can’t really chase it. You can’t drink a magic potion or something. You gotta just do the hard work and trust each other and that’ll happen.”