Mac Jones draws high praise from Adrian Phillips: "His confidence is through the roof right now"
FOXBORO -- Ask a football player about a teammate, and he's going to say positive things. That's understood. So it's not particularly newsworthy that veteran safety Adrian Phillips had nice things to say about quarterback Mac Jones on Tuesday.
Yet hearing the specifics and detail about why Phillips is feeling rather good about his quarterback, it was clear that Phillips really means what he was saying after practice.
"I've seen him grow and change a lot. I don't want to give too much detail into it, just because I don't want to give up his little tidbits. But I just think overall, he's a way better quarterback," Phillips raved on Tuesday. "He took last year on the chin. He'll be the first one to tell you that that's not how he wanted to play."
From his vantage point, Jones has been going after the Patriots' defense with aggression all summer long.
"He's coming out here every single day and he's trying to light our defense up. Like literally, light us up," Phillips said. "I'm talking bombs, anything he can do. You just love to see that. He's always checking the play, he's always ready to give you something that you have to think about. And I just think his confidence is through the roof right now."
Jones, who got his feet wet with three series of work in Saturday night's preseason game in Green Bay, appreciated the compliments.
"I appreciate that. I think just keep growing, keep competing, keep it fun, go back and forth with the defense," Jones said. "I think we've done that more this year, and really just try and carry it over to the game and keep that intensity up."
Jones was asked in what areas he believes he's a better quarterback. He used that as an opportunity to reciprocate the praise.
"Yeah, I think just with AP, I think one of the things that he has actually been helping me with is just asking questions," Jones said. "Obviously, we haven't even played a game yet, so I don't know if [being a better quarterback is] true or not. But, I mean, I think just talking with him, asking him questions when we're going against them. Like, 'Hey, what did I do there?' He's like, 'Hey, good job looking me off on that man-to-man coverage' or whatever. And just trying to take it from the practice field to the game field and use those tools that I have. But yeah, it's just continuing to grow and staying to the process, I guess, and don't veer off the process."
How well the process serves Jones will be determined when the games actually matter. But on the sunny practice fields just outside of Gillette Stadium, Jones has at least gained one major believer in Phillips.
