Former Patriot Tells Mac Jones To 'Keep Your Mouth Shut'

The New England Patriots fell to the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday and quarterback Mac Jones said the loss was due to the team not making the most of their bye week to prepare.

But former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson has a theory about the quarterback's post-game conference comments after the loss.

"I was surprised by that because it was so off-script for Mac Jones," Johnson said on NBC10 Boston's Sports Sunday. "He's always stuck to the script — cliché 101. This time he went off script and I was really surprised to hear him say that we were feeling sorry for ourselves. About what? You just came off a bye week. Is it because you played on a Monday night and then you had to play on a Saturday night? Get over it, boys. It's ring-chasing time now."

"And him saying they had a bad week of practice and that their energy level was low — you're a rookie, keep your mouth shut," Johnson continued. "That's not going to play well in the locker room. My feeling is Bill Belichick probably had him say it. I think Bill Belichick wanted the message to go through Mac Jones, call out his players. It would be atypical of Bill this year to come down really hard on this team. So, to me, that was some orders from Bill because I can't imagine Mac Jones going off-script like he did, criticizing the team's energy and their preparation going into this week. When you're a rookie quarterback, you're not supposed to say stuff like that."

NBC Sports reports the Patriots were shut out in the first half of the game — which was full of uncharacteristic mistakes, penalties, a blocked punt, and interceptions — for the first time since 2016.

The Patriots (9-5) host the Buffalo Bills (8-6) on Sunday and the Jacksonville Jaguars (2-12) on Jan. 2 before traveling to face the Miami Dolphins (7-7) on Jan. 9.

Follow Meg Turner on Twitter @Megnturner_ and Instagram @Megnturner.

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