“We’ll see how it goes today” served as New England coach Bill Belichick’s answer, or most of it, to the first five questions at his Wednesday press conference – all dealing with the Patriots’ quarterback situation.

Belichick did say 20 other words in addressing those five questions, but “We’ll see how it goes today” was on repeat for each one.

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So how did it go?

“We had a good practice today, or walkthrough, whatever you want to call it,” quarterback Mac Jones said after Wednesday’s practice. “Making good progress.”

More specifically, what did Jones show Belichick in practice on Wednesday that would trigger a reset to the quarterback situation before Jones incurred an ankle injury that caused the former Alabama All-American to miss three games?

“We have a plan,” Jones said. “For me, right now, that’s to become a better quarterback individually and a better player. I’m doing everything I can to do that. I just want to prove that every day. That’s what I’m going to do. This is a team sport, so sometimes it’s hard for me to talk about myself all the time. I want this to be about the great offense that we’re trying to form. I think we’re making good strides. We want to be better, so we all know that. We want to score more points. We want to do things better.

“Our coaches are doing a great job. They’re working really hard. We’ve made a lot of progress together. I think being close is never good enough, but I think we’re getting there. We just want to fix the things that we can fix and be better.”

New England faces quarterback questions because Jones, coming off a trip to the Pro Bowl as a rookie, got hurt on Sept. 25 on the Patriots’ final offensive snap against the Baltimore Ravens — a 37-26 loss that left the team with a 1-2 record.

Veteran Brian Hoyer started the next game, but he suffered a concussion in the first quarter. In his NFL debut, Bailey Zappe finished the 27-24 overtime loss to the Green Bay Packers, then went all the way under center as the Patriots defeated the Detroit Lions 29-0 on Oct. 9 and the Cleveland Browns 38-15 on Oct. 16.

Jones returned to the starting lineup on Monday night against the Chicago Bears, but after two three-and-outs and an interception, he gave way to Zappe and didn’t play again. Belichick said that was the plan; it wasn’t a benching.

Zappe sparked two touchdown drives, but then lost a fumble and threw two interceptions as the Patriots fell to the Bears 33-14.

Belichick was asked if “we’ll see how it goes today” meant Jones and Zappe were competing for the starting job.

“I’m not saying that,” Belichick said. “We’ll talk about it later. We’ll see how it goes.”

In the wake of Belichick’s answers came a report from ESPN that said Jones already had been told he would start Sunday’s game against the New York Jets and took almost all the first-team reps on Wednesday to get ready.

“I think, obviously, we don’t really talk about that,” Jones said when asked if the report had been accurate. “Like I said, we’re going to go do the week of practice, and then coach Belichick, just like every other week, he’s going to tell you what you’re doing and how you have to play the game and what we have to do to win. He’s done a good job being very open with me, and I think that’s the important part. That’s all you can ask for — right? — is just clear communication and going out there and putting all the other rat poison away, playing as best I can play and become the best quarterback that I can be.”

Jones said he would be prepared to start.

“I plan to start every game that I’ve ever played in,” Jones said. “Whether that was in peewee football or third-string at Alabama, I always try to prepare as a starter. Like I always say, if it’s one snap or 70, I’ll be ready to go. That’s all you can do, right? You can’t really control anything else. I work really hard and put myself in position to do that. Yes, I think I deserve that.”

For the first time since his ankle injury, Jones did not appear on New England’s injury report on Wednesday, indicating he had returned to full participation.

“I feel pretty good,” Jones said. “I think, like I said, just trying to get my treatment. I’ve done a good job with that. Just like everybody else, just sticking to my routine and trying to get back into that. Try to just become a better football player. Whatever I can do to do that, just like everybody else on our team, I’m going to do. That just goes with working hard, and treatment’s part of that, too.”

The Patriots and Jets will square off at noon Sunday at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

New York has lost 12 in a row to New England. But the Jets are on a four-game winning streak that has boosted their record to 5-2 as they seek their first victory over the Patriots since Oct. 27, 2015.

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