Mac Jones stays on field, warms up in Patriots’ win
The sports radio shows in Boston will need a new topic for this week. After much handwringing over the New England quarterback situation, Mac Jones played a full game for the first time since sustaining an ankle injury on Sept. 25 as the Patriots defeated the New York Jets 22-17 on Sunday.
New England defeated the Jets for the 13th game in a row, but this time the victory ended a four-game winning streak by New York while evening the Patriots’ record at 4-4.
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Jones completed 24-of-35 passes for 194 yards with one touchdown and one interception and ran for 19 yards on seven carries on Sunday.
“He looked ready to go, man,” New England wide receiver Kendrick Bourne said. “Obviously, you know what happened last week and stuff like that, but he’s always ready. With football, you never know what’s going to happen and you just got to be ready for your opportunity, and that’s what kind of played out. He just was locked in on his playbook and his play calls and played a great game.”
After sitting out three games, Jones returned to the field on Monday night. But in a 33-14 loss to the Chicago Bears, the former Alabama All-American played only the first three series, producing two three-and-outs and an interception before giving way to rookie Bailey Zappe, who had been under center for victories in the preceding two games.
New England’s first three possessions against New York featured a three-and-out, a field goal and an interception as the Patriots fell behind 10-3. But Jones stayed on the field this time, even after the New England’s fourth possession ended on a fourth-and-1 incompletion at the Jets 21-yard line.
On the second play of the fifth series, Jones threw a pick-six. But the New York touchdown was wiped out by a roughing-the-passer penalty, and New England got a field goal on the final play of the first half, then scored on four of its first five second-half series.
“It was a big halftime swing — a 10-point swing, really,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “We got the field goal at the end of the half on the last play and then started the third quarter with points.
“I thought Mac did a good job today. He got the ball out quickly. We gave up some pressure, but I thought he did a good job taking care of the ball.”
Jones threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jakobi Meyers to cap a six-play, 62-yard drive that put the Patriots ahead 13-10 with 12:07 left in the third quarter. Three field goals followed before the Jets scored again.
“I think coach Belichick and (offensive playcaller) Matty P(atricia) and coach (Joe) Judge did a good job just coming up with a plan of how we were going to attack,” Jones said. “We talked about it, and they’ve done a good job all year of adjusting at halftime. I think that’s something they’re doing a great job of, and that obviously benefits us in the second half, and we were able to go down there and move the ball.
“Obviously, we want to score more points, we know that, and we’ll have plenty of stuff to work on, but super-proud of the guys on offense for just sticking with it and trying to battle through against a really good defense.”
Jones said the offensive players had put in extra time together since the loss to the Bears.
“I feel like we did extra things this week together as a team, and really as an offense, that showed up on the field,” Jones said, “and if we continue to do that, we’ll see better results. I thought the process is there, I’m just super-happy to be a part of this and want to continue to grow here. One game isn’t good enough, so we’ll be ready for next week.”
The Jets sacked Jones six times, and the quarterback tied his career high with seven rushing attempts.
“Mac’s a tough kid,” Belichick said. “I thought he made some good decisions, managed the game well, managed our team well. That’s what a quarterback’s job is is to help the team win. That’s what he did.”
The Patriots play the Indianapolis Colts at noon CST Sunday at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, in Week 9 of the NFL season.
“I feel like we laid out the targets that we wanted to hit, and we hit most of them,” Jones said. “… I’m just super-happy that we won, but we’re always going to try to look at the things we can do better, and that’s what we’ll do.”
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.