Bill Belichick is taking things day-by-day when it comes to injured quarterback Mac Jones.
And if that message is not clear enough, the New England Patriots coach repeated it — at least 11 times — while speaking to reporters at the podium on Thursday.
Jones had been in agony while leaving the field with a high ankle sprain in the weekend’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens, with reports suggesting the injury is “pretty severe”.
The second-year quarterback is expected to miss this week’s game against the Green Bay Packers, but when asked about his injury on Tuesday, Jones laughed.
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“He likes to answer those questions,” Jones said of Belichick. “You can ask him.”
So, that is exactly what reporters did. But ask Belichick and he will simply tell you that Jones is “day-by-day”, over and over again.
He will also tell you that he is not a doctor. And if you ask what the actual doctors have said about Jones, Belichick won’t offer much up either.
“What do I look like?” A doctor? An orthopedic surgeon? I do not know. Talk to the medical experts,” Belichick said in response to a question about Jones’ injury.
“Day by day,” the Patriots coach predictably added when then asked a follow-up question about what those medical experts had told him.
“We’ll evaluate him day by day. I mean, what difference does it make to me? You think I’m going to read the MRI? That’s not my job.”
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It is Belichick’s job though to pick the replacement should Jones not be available and that will be Brian Hoyer.
“He knows [the offence] better than anybody,” Belichick said.
“I mean, from an overall experience standpoint. This year is this year. But, yeah, Brian’s had a lot of experience.
“He’s been in a lot of different systems. Seen a lot of football. Took a lot of snaps for us in various capacities. Thought he played well in the preseason. If we need him to go, he’ll be ready to go.”
Of course, this was just the latest in a long line of classic Belichick press conferences, as well ESPN reporter Mike Reiss noted on Thursday.
“I’ve been in a lot of Bill Belichick news conferences. We had ‘On to Cincinnati’, we had ‘Mona Lisa Vito’ and now we have ‘Day-By-Day’, so leave it to Bill Belichick to bring some theater to the football arena,” he said.
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