In their humiliating 34-0 loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, Bill Belichick and the Patriots sat starting quarterback Mac Jones down in favor of Bailey Zappe for a second consecutive game.
Following both instances, Belichick declined to say it was a benching for poor performance.
6 rings: Did the Patriots whiff on Mac Jones?
“At that point, there wasn’t any point of leaving him in the game," Belichick said of his decision last week in Dallas. "So we just took him out."
On Sunday against New Orleans? “We were down 31-nothing at the end of third quarter,” New England's head coach said of his decision.
Belichick also continues to (sort of) say that, despite significant struggles on offense, that the team will move forward with Jones as their starting quarterback:
"Yeah," Belichick said when asked if his 2021 first-round pick will remain his signal caller. "There was a lot of problems. It certainly wasn't all him.”
Jones was 12 of 22 passing for 110 yards in the contest and turned the ball over three times with two interceptions (including a pick-six) and lost a fumble. He was also sacked twice before being benched for Zappe.
“Definitely not an ideal situation for anybody," Jones said when asked if he had any words for Zappe as he entered the game. “And as an offense, the goal is to play better and put up points. So we all have to do that and got to practice that way and do things differently and figure out how to put up points.”
Zappe wasn’t exactly a world-beater in this one either. He was just 3 of 9 for 22 yards in relief and overthrew two wide-open targets tight end Hunter Henry and wide receiver Kendrick Bourne.
“I missed Hunter and KB,” Zappe said of his misfires. “So that’s something I’ll do extra this week, trying to get with those guys and try to get on the same page with them. It all comes down to trying to execute.”
So where will New England go from here at the quarterback position? While it sounds like they’ll stick with Jones for the foreseeable future, anything is possible if they continue in this direction.
Make sure to follow Mike on Twitter @mikekadlick, and follow @WEEI for the latest up-to-date Patriots and Boston sports news!
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