Jacksonville Jaguars Media Conference

Sunday, December 15, 2024

Jacksonville, Florida, USA

Mac Jones

Postgame Press Conference


Jets - 32, Jaguars - 25

Q. Could you talk about the last pick? Brian was lined up on the same side as Parker was. He did like a little curl in the middle and looked like he was open. Did you see Brian, or were you just kind of thinking Parker was the guy that you were going to go toward?

MAC JONES: I'm going to have to watch the film. It's definitely in the game play. At that point I think we had 44 seconds and we were on the plus-50. Usually it's a second a yard. So, you've kind of got to get a chunk play, if that makes sense.

Sauce kind of baited me into it. That's what I saw. And Pukey (phonetic) peeled back on it and made a good play. Definitely going to watch the film and see what I can do different.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about what Brian's been able to do for this offense this year? Being a rookie, he's only got about 40 yards left to get to a thousand.

MAC JONES: Yeah, for sure, I've been a rookie before. He's a professional. All the older guys obviously have been a rookie before too. They get what he's going through.

It's just impressive that he comes to work every day with a good attitude. He's going to be here for a long time. And I'm really looking forward to watching him play here. He's a great teammate, and I'm just going to keep building with him.

I thought he had a good rapport with Trevor and has done a good job with me. Just gotta keep getting the ball -- they're doing things now to take him away, clearly, as you saw during the game.

We have to figure out a way to watch other teams and see what they do and how to get him open more.

Q. What kind of expectations do you have for him, not just moving forward this year, but into the future?

MAC JONES: I think when you play well as a rookie, you've got to just start over your next year and play well again and don't let any success or failure carry over to the next year. You just take every day one day at a time. I know he's going to do that.

We've got some good games to finish here, three games left, and he's going to continue to fight like everybody else.

Q. You've had a few games now to call the signals and pretty much take the command here. How close are the passes? I know the one pass that you tried for Brian in the back of the end zone kind of sailed on him. How close are the connections at this point? Are you still trying to get tendencies at this point?

MAC JONES: Yeah, you watch NFL football, and there's plays that are made and plays that aren't. So, as a quarterback, you just want to get the game to the fourth quarter, and we did.

Last week we got down there and won it. This week we didn't. That's on me. I know I've got to get it to the fourth. That was my plan all along.

And Aaron played a great game. The Jets defense did a great job. It's a Hall of Fame quarterback. You've got to go down there score as much as you can and turn the 3s into 7s.

Q. How important was it to get Brian involved early, even if it was just short little passes to get him going there?

MAC JONES: For sure. That's every offense, you want to feed your best player. Obviously we've got other great playmakers too.

I thought Brenton did a good job, the running backs. And the wide receivers did a good job. Obviously the offensive line -- it's a really good defensive front -- they did a good job. And really it just comes down to me finishing and making some better decisions and we're in it at the end. So just finish better and see where it takes us.

Q. I know you would rather have a win, but it seemed like you were comfortable out there today?

MAC JONES: Yes.

Q. Could you talk about your performance today? And it seemed like you were having fun.

MAC JONES: Yeah, I appreciate you noticing that. For me it kind of ruins it because we didn't win. I'm always about that.

But at the same time I've been very hard on myself in the past. My goal is to finish this year strong and see where it takes us.

I'm bummed. I'm disappointed because we were in that game. I'm looking at it from a professional standpoint and what can I do better? And I thought the coaches called a good game and the players executed for the most part. I've just got to make a couple more plays and we'll be in a different spot.

Q. Did you feel more comfortable heading into this week as opposed to maybe the last couple weeks when you're coming in a little bit colder?

MAC JONES: For sure. It's been an up-and-down year. But that's your job as a backup quarterback to get there, get ready to play. We had some guys injured this year. I feel like the young guys have stepped up and made plays. And to hang with a good team like that, I mean, it was good, but I want to win. Everybody wants to win. We'll find ways to do that these next three.

Q. Seemed like you and Brenton Strange already have a pretty good connection. Could you talk about that, what he meant to you and the team over the last few weeks?

MAC JONES: I think when I first got here, just his toughness. He's always training hard, running hard, blocking very well.

And then he's really improved in the pass game. But, yeah, he stepped up with Evan being hurt.

I fortunately got a lot of reps with him in OTAs and what not. We have a little bit of a chemistry, and we're just going to continue to build.

Q. Does it feel like, even in the loss, the offense took a step forward today? Most points, I think, you guys scored since week nine.

MAC JONES: Yeah. Like I said, you want to get to the fourth and have a different result. At the end of the day, you've got to get there and you've got to put up points.

I can turn some of those 3s into 7s and it's a different game. I'll learn from it. I thought the guys played well and fought hard. I really enjoyed playing with this group and we'll figure it out.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
151302-1-1045 2024-12-15 22:02:00 GMT

ASAP sports

tech 129