BOSTON — The Patriots’ offense flew to Germany and didn’t have a whole lot of fun. Tensions eventually boiled over.
After Mac Jones narrowly escaped his sixth sack of the day in the third quarter, the quarterback headed to the sideline and watched as rookie kicker Chad Ryland missed a chip shot 35-yard field goal attempt. That string of events likely led to frustrations rising for everyone on the New England sideline, but offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien was perhaps the most perturbed of all.
NFL Network cameras caught O’Brien delivering a message to Jones in rather emphatic fashion:
O’Brien has earned the nickname “Teapot” by Tom Brady and Brian Hoyer for his penchant for letting his emotions reach a boiling point, but this was the first public example of O’Brien losing his cool this season.
O’Brien might have wanted Jones to hit Demario Douglas on a quick crosser on the third-down play, when Rhamondre Stevenson was also available in the left flat. Instead, Jones got caught looking downfield when the pass rush got to him, leading to him throwing a rather dangerous underhanded toss to avoid the sack.
At that point in the game, the Patriots were 2-for-8 on third down, with Jones becoming the first Patriots quarterback since Matt Cassel in 2008 to take four third-down sacks in a game.
Clearly, the Patriots have problems. And clearly … O’Brien is getting sick of dealing with them.
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