Joe Judge gives general guidelines on what Patriots are looking for in Mac Jones' recovery from injury
BOSTON -- With Bill Belichick as his boss, Patriots quarterbacks coach Joe Judge was understandably not particularly eager to share all of the details of Mac Jones' injury status.
"I'm not the doctors, and I'm not the head coach," Judge told reporters over Zoom on Tuesday.
Yet while Judge didn't get into the specifics with Jones, he did offer up some general guidelines on what the team assesses when looking at injured and rehabbing players' potential availability for games.
"In terms of when you look at players coming back from injury, I think generally speaking, there are two things you're concerned with as a coach," Judge explained. "And that's number one, can they hurt it any worse? And you never want to put a player in a position to being worse off. And then number two would be, can they protect themselves?"
Judge said such evaluations are typically made during practice.
"Guys coming off injuries, you have to see where they're at within their rehab and how they're moving," he said. "But again, I deflect -- those decisions are made [by] people above me, the head coach and the medical staff."
While Jones couldn't play on Sunday in Cleveland, he was present and on the sideline as rookie Bailey Zappe ran the offense. Judge spoke to how that was helpful for the Patriots during their 38-15 win.
"Yeah, he showed a lot of great leadership this weekend. He really did," Judge said. "And you always want a guy like Mac -- obviously, he's a captain on the team, you want him down there. You want him with the team. You want him in uniform. Wasn't available this week, for certain reasons, but I'd say having him down there is a very positive impact on the team. It was good for the other players. ... I noticed the coaches having conversations on the bench with Mac throughout the series, looking at pictures together, seeing things he's picking up on. Those conversations, talking with the players in-game, you've always gotta value their perspective of what they're seeing out there -- the guys playing, the guys on the sideline watching, staying in tune. Because they're looking at it through a different lens. And it's interesting when you can share perspectives with each other, coach and player, how you see things differently sometimes. But it's important as coaches to listen to players, because you're gonna learn a whole lot more from them if you do."
And while Jones has now been out for three games, Judge said that the quarterback has continued to be an example for the rest of the roster.
"Mac's a captain on this team. And he leads all the players. These guys were elected by their teammates for a reason. And that's for their leadership and to be a vocal piece, talking directly to the head coach, and sharing the beat of the team," Judge said. "And Mac's done a great job throughout the entire season, going back to the spring when Zappe got here, as far as working with his teammates, working together, competing with them, but then also helping out with each other's games. And he's done a really good job of demonstrating how to work, how to prepare, and how to compete on a daily basis for really all of our players on our roster, to see as an example."
Jones was listed as questionable for Sunday's game, and he made the trip to Cleveland, indicating that he had a chance to play. But he's not quite recovered from his high ankle sprain, thus opening the door for Zappe to start a second game. Jones has an extra day to try to get ready for next week's game, as the Patriots will host the Bears on Monday Night Football.
