Mac Jones’ Word of the Day: ‘Opportunity’

New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones’ Word of the Day is “opportunity.”

With two weeks remaining in the NFL’s 2022 regular season, the Patriots still have a path to the playoffs even though they’ve dropped to 7-8 with four losses in their past five games.

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New England squares off against the visiting Miami Dolphins on Sunday before concluding its regular-season slate at the Buffalo Bills on Jan. 8.

“The word is opportunity,” Jones said. “We have a great chance to kind of go out there and compete against a team that we’re familiar with, but also a team that’s played really well this year and has great players on offense, defense, special teams, great coaching. From top to bottom, it’s just a really good team we’re going to get to go against, so it definitely starts with us and just cleaning up things at practice and attacking each day and realizing what type of opportunity we have in front of us. You got to understand what’s at risk and what we want to get to.”

Jones earned All-American recognition at Alabama in 2020, when he helped the Crimson Tide win the SEC Championship and the Rose Bowl and complete an undefeated season with a 52-24 victory over Ohio Sate in the CFP title game.

Last season, Jones started every game for New England, including a playoff contest as the Patriots returned to the postseason after a one-year absence.

But if New England loses to Miami on Sunday, the Patriots’ opportunity to reach the postseason will be over.

“I’ve been fortunate to play in some big games,” Jones said. “I know a lot of the guys on our team have, too — obviously the older guys. That’s always the best thing to do – talk to them about what to do and how do you prepare differently. Is there anything different? A lot of them say the same thing: It’s another game. You got to go out there and play the game just like you’re a 5-year-old kid regardless of the stakes at hand or anything like that. It all comes down to execution of the plays. And that’s true. I think when you can stack up a bunch of really good plays and then you look up and focus on what the actual plays are and not the results, a lot of times good things happen.”

Miami will play on Sunday without its Alabama quarterback because Tua Tagovailoa is in the NFL concussion protocol.

If New England defeats the Dolphins, then the Patriots have a direct path to the playoffs by beating the Bills on Jan. 8. New England lost at home to Buffalo 24-10 on Dec. 1.

But as long as they down Miami, the Patriots could lose to the Bills and still make the playoffs, although it will take a specific set of outcomes in other games for that to happen. The Jacksonville Jaguars would have to lose both their remaining games, the Las Vegas Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers would have to lose at least once more apiece and the New York Jets would have to lose to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday and defeat the Dolphins on Jan. 8.

For its part, Miami can secure the final open spot in the AFC playoffs on Sunday with a victory over New England and a loss by the Jets against Seattle.

“We have a great opportunity this week to compete in a really big-time game,” Jones said. “This is the type of game everybody wants to play in where both teams have a lot at stake. We got to give it everything we got. Everything that happened in the past is just a learning experience, and everything that’s happening now’s the present and that’s what you got to focus on. We’re focused on the present and what we can do better. How can we just put together the best game plan and execution of that game plan for this weekend?”

Changes in the final seconds of the Patriots’ previous two games might have made New England’s postseason position less precarious.

In a 30-24 loss to the Raiders on Dec. 18, running back Rhamondre Stevenson and wide receiver Jakobi Meyers lateraled the football on the final play rather than settle for overtime, and Las Vegas turned that decision into a game-winning touchdown with no time on the clock.

In a 22-18 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday, New England had rallied from a 22-point deficit when Stevenson lost a fumble at the Cincinnati 5-yard line with 59 seconds to play.

“This was a good example of not quitting and playing for each other and just trying to do everything right,” Jones said. “And when we do things right, it’s really good, and when we don’t, it’s not so good, so just having that mindset of ‘Hey, let’s go out there and have fun and compete. We got nothing to lose, so just go out there and let it rip and play the game we love and doing that from the start to the finish, not just one quarter.’ Like we’ve done it some games for a quarter, we’ve done it some games for two, three quarters and some games for four, so it’s like: How can we just do it consistently all the time? And that’s the important part – doing it all the time.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.