Bill Belichick on Mac Jones’ injury status: ‘The best way to handle these situations is always to give a little time’

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick held a virtual media conference call on Monday morning, and it did not take long for Mac Jones’ name to come up. The sophomore quarterback, after all, had sustained an apparent back injury in the Patriots’ 20-7 loss to the Miami Dolphins the previous day.

Given Jones’ status as the most important player on New England’s roster, there is a natural yearning for information. Belichick, however, did not share a whole lot of it.

“No update on Mac,” he said. “We’ll see how he is today. But he came back with us, so, we’ll see how that goes.”

Jones was able to play all 57 offensive snaps against the Dolphins, but had to visit the X-ray room at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium after the contest. He did not hold his usual press conference after the game, instead being scheduled for a couple of media appearances on Monday afternoon — presumably after undergoing further evaluation.

As Belichick explained, this is all standard procedure for the Patriots.

“We’ll take a look at it today,” Belichick said on Monday. “It has nothing to do with Mac. But just in general, where players are immediately after the game and where they are, let’s call it 18 hours after the game, is often quite different. I know everybody’s hungry for an up-to-the-second update, but honestly, the best way to handle these situations is always to give a little time, see what happens, run whatever tests or analysis need to be run and then go from there.

“That’s what we always do. That’s what we’re going to do in this case. That’s what we’re going to do in every other case with every other injury, unless something is more clear-cut or obvious in a very short period of time, which sometimes it is. But that’s why we have these medical procedures, and we’re going to use them. It will be that way with just about everybody.”

Belichick added that potential injuries such as the one sustained by Jones are more thoroughly evaluated the day after the game, with added information available. Accordingly, the Patriots are in a wait-and-see position as far as their starting quarterback is concerned.

While it seems likely that some information will become available beforehand, New England will release its first injury report of the week on Wednesday. Four days later, the team will play the Pittsburgh Steelers.