Bill Belichick isn't tipping his hand on who will be Patriots quarterback on Monday night
FOXBORO -- Mac Jones was back on the practice field Friday as the Patriots continued their preparations for Monday night's game against the Chicago Bears.
Is Jones ready to return to game action? That is what reports are saying, as the QB expects to be available against the Bears on Monday night.
But Bill Belichick wasn't ready to make any commitment to Jones or Bailey Zappe at quarterback. He instead went back to an old phrase that took off when Jones was first injured back in Week 3.
"We're just taking it day by day," Belichick said, cracking a smile.
This time around is a little different from the time that Belichick threw "day by day" out a dozen times when asked about Jones' status. Mostly because the days are a bit off this week, since the Patriots play on Monday night and not Sunday.
For instance, the Patriots did not practice on Wednesday, when they usually start that week's practice sessions. Thursday was their first day on the practice field, with the week of prep wrapping up with a walkthrough on Saturday.
Asked if Jones looked better this Thursday than last Thursday, Belichick noted that, "yesterday was a Wednesday, in my world." He also added that today (Friday) was actually Thursday for the team.
Got it? Cool. But no matter the day that it is or isn't, the bottom line is that Belichick said that Jones did more in practice this week than he did last week. So the progress is there.
"We'll see how it goes," Belichick added, using another phrase that he's uttered quite a bit over the last three weeks.
Normally, we'd get the week's injury report on Friday afternoon. But that will have to wait until Saturday afternoon this week.
Chances are, we won't know if Mac is back or not until 90 minutes before kickoff on Monday.
