I’ve seen Boston turn on its own before.
I’ve watched once-admired and appreciated athletes become Masshole Enemy No.
1 in short order.
It happened with the Chicken and Beer Red Sox of 2011.
And if I want to go way back to my childhood, Jim Plunkett.
He was the vessel into which a fanbase had poured all their frustration.
But he was just the latest of such tragic figures.
There was a long, unbroken string of them that traced all the way back to Ted Williams.
But Nomar’s demise took about seven years.
Which makes what’s gone on with Mac Jones all the more astonishing.
His Patriots career has followed the same arc as Nomar’s, but on 16X fast forward.
And for the life of me, I don’t get it.
I can see being frustrated with him.
But this went way beyond mere frustration.
Then he suffered a severe ankle injury.
And by the time he returned to the lineup, Patriots fans had already turned on him.
With a majority of them chanting his backup’s name.
And a crazy percentage of people quickly convinced themselves we were witnessing another Tom Brady/Drew Bledsoe scenario playing out.
Until Bailey Zappe started throwing picks.
A lot of picks.
Then the Brady talk died down.
But the pure vitriol directed at Jones never did.
And, according to published reports, his team on the whole.
Here’s the most recent.
When Jones showed up to Jerod Mayo’s introductory press conference:
…
I didn’t think much of it.
Not a single hanger.
I mean, come on man, the team source told Bedard.
Everyones watched him play, theyve watched him act like a prima donna.
The team is sick of it, everyones sick of it.
An act of defiance?
Proof of hisprima donnaishness?
Clothes hanger thievery in the first degree?
Seriously, what am I missing?
None that have any source attaching their name to it.
But ownership forced his hand.
–Belichick wanted to trade Jones last year and sign Baker Mayfield.
But ownership forced his hand.
Not that people aren’t telling the reporters like Greg Bedard the things they are reporting.
Just that the organization is in a turbulent time of widespread change.
This is civil war, with jobs and futures on the line.
And the first casualty of war is always the truth.
And yet, for Mac Jones, the degree to which any of this is true is secondary.
Something “everyone’s sick of.”
Even more than his sacks and interceptions have.
I don’t see any way Jones can come back from this.
People are actively out to ruin him.
I’ve been a big Mac supporter since before the Pats were even in a position to draft him.
But I’d like to see this misery end sooner, rather than later.
Then hope he find success elsewhere, the way Plunkett did.
And that the team finds success after he’s gone the way the 2004 Red Sox did.
Because this is only going to get worse until he’s gone.
