As the New England Patriots’ offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels spent the 2021 NFL season guiding rookie quarterback Mac Jones through 18 starts. On Tuesday and Wednesday, McDaniels watched the former Alabama All-American from his new view as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Patriots and Raiders held joint practices during the two days at Las Vegas’ facility in advance of their preseason meeting on Friday night.
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“Love that kid. I really do,” McDaniels said about Jones before Wednesday’s practice. “And spent a lot of time with him, obviously, last year. Great human being. Got a bright future. Really competitive guy that wants to do it right, wants to do everything right. Those are always things that are difficult when you leave and you go somewhere else. There’s going to be people that you miss maybe more than others, but you’re going to miss them all.
“But saw him yesterday battling, and that’s basically what happens at this time of the year. Thought he made some really good plays, and there were some other situations where we’re trying to make it as hard as we can on them, and they, obviously, got the better of us there at the end. Finishing practice was a huge point of emphasis for us, and we, obviously, didn’t finish as well as they did on either side of the ball.
“But I think the world of the kid. I really do.”
McDaniels isn’t the only New England connection in Las Vegas. Raiders offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi, offensive-line coach Carmen Bricillo and quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree were on the Patriots’ staff last season, and Las Vegas running back Brandon Bolden and quarterback Jarrett Stidham were teammates of Jones’ in 2021, too.
“They’re always fun, but this one was a lot of fun just having some familiar faces out there, too,” Jones said of the joint practices after Wednesday’s workout. “… Whether that’s between Alabama or the Patriots, I’m very fortunate. Everywhere we go, I have at least a teammate or a coach or somebody.
“Obviously, they have a great coaching staff. You can tell our coaching staffs respect one another, and the players do, too, so it was just good, healthy competition, and we got to carry that over to the game and see how that goes.”
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The Patriots and Raiders will conclude their preseason schedules at 7:15 p.m. CDT Friday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Jones sat out New England’s preseason opener, then played three series in Friday’s 20-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers. He came out after leading a 10-play, 81-yard touchdown drive.
Jones got more work against the Las Vegas defense over the two days of joint practices.
“That’s what I love about being here,” Jones said. “I feel so prepared when they come up in the game just based off my experiences. I’m always prepared for what’s coming.”
Jones starts his second season on the road against the Miami Dolphins on Sept. 11.
McDaniels is preparing the Raiders to kick off the 2022 campaign against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sept. 11. He found the work with the Patriots invaluable in that task.
“This is what I think sometimes gets lost: Failure is part of this process, and we do it on purpose,” McDaniels said. “We have to try things that may be difficult, may be hard. Maybe we’re not ready to do them. When we do those things, we learn a lot about ourselves, whether we learn how to do that technique or that scheme better or we learn that that’s not something that’s for us right now, and so if we just did what was safe, if we just did what everybody knew, I don’t know how much progress we would make. And I’m speaking for every team in the league. It’s the same thing.
“If you never put them in a hard position, you’re not going to learn a whole lot about them, and so right now, what we’re doing is we’re challenging them. We got significantly challenged yesterday. We saw things we haven’t seen all year, going back to OTAs, and so that’s the nature of these practices, and it was great, because we can’t really simulate that otherwise.”
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.