Mac Jones hopes and plans to start at QB for Patriots on Sunday

BOSTON -- Bill Belichick isn't saying who his starting quarterback will be on Sunday. He may have not decided yet.

Mac Jones, then, wasn't willing (or, possibly, able) to spill the beans on whether he'll be QB1 on the depth chart Sunday against the Giants. But the embattled third-year quarterback said he's proceeding through this week with the mindset that he'll be in his usual spot come Sunday at 1 p.m.

"Hope so. I mean, that's the plan. I think I always work really hard for that," Jone said. "Really put a lot of attention and detail into the week, like I talked about. And a lot of that decision-making is things I can't control. But I can control my attitude and my effort, like I talked about."

Jones was asked to specify if that was his plan or the team's plan.

"Um, we'll see, right?" Jones replied. "I mean, we've had those conversations, and like I talked about, just focusing on the controllables and being where my feet are is very important. And at the end of the day, like I said, I'm thankful to be here, to be the quarterback, and I'm gonna continue to work hard and put in the hours every day. That's all you can do, and see where we're at."

The situation is clearly not ideal for Jones, who very much earned his three benchings this season. But it's also nothing new. He beat out Cam Newton for the starting job as a rookie in 2021, and he endured last season's situation with Bailey Zappe winning two games during Jones' injury absence. In college at Alabama, Jones said he learned a lot from watching the quarterback competition between Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts.

"I've dealt with this my whole life, whether it was Pop Warner, high school, college," Jones said. "Obviously was part of a -- I wasn't really in it, but I was with Jalen and Tua and I witnessed everything, I heard every conversation, watched everything, watched every move between each guy. So I learned a lot about both of them, and I learned a lot about myself, too, just trying to learn from their situation, and talking with Jalen, Tua, and having those friendships is always good."

Yet coming off that dreadful performance on a world stage in Germany, it's fair to wonder if Jones has let some doubts creep into his game at this exact moment. 

"It's good," Jones said of his confidence level. "I think obviously like I always talk about, when you're a competitor, there's things you're gonna bump into but you just have to keep going. And I know I'm gonna keep going. Like I said, it'll always all work out. It always has, as long as you keep working and fighting through the vines, right? You've gotta keep pushing and keep making it work. And it might not happen today or tomorrow but you've gotta make it work just through your work ethic and all those things."

We'll get you ready to Sunday's Patriots-Giants tilt all week on WBZ-TV -- the flagship station of the New England Patriots. Coverage begins Wednesday night with Patriots 1st Down at 9:30 p.m. on TV38, and continues Saturday night with Patriots All Access at 7pm on both WBZ and TV38. Pregame coverage kicks off Sunday morning at 11:30am with Patriots GameDay, and after the game, tune in to Patriots 5th Quarter on TV38.