FOXBOROUGH – In so many ways, the first month of Mac Jones’ career as the Patriots starter couldn’t have gone much better.
Except for one little problem, after going toe-to-toe in the rain with Tom Brady on Sunday night, New England’s rookie starting quarterback is now 1-3 on the season following a tough-to-take 19-17 loss to the Buccaneers at Gillette Stadium.
A month in, Jones has won everywhere except the one place it matters most in the production-based, bottom-line business of the NFL where there’s little room for moral victories or beauty points. That’s especially true under Bill Belichick’s watch in New England where the bar, and the expectations have been set pretty damn high by you-know-who.
Jones has won with the Foxborough fans to some degree in the court of public opinion, earning cheers as loud or louder than Brady’s in the GOAT’s return to his home of two decades where he helped hang six Super Bowl banners.
Jones has clearly won with his coaches, Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels not only handing him the starting job as an upstart rookie but opening up the playbook in recent weeks to the point where he’s spreading defenses out without much of a running game to turn to. Despite rushing for a grand total of minus-1 yards in four quarters against the defending champs, Jones had the Patriots leading 17-16 with just more than two minutes to play in arguably the most-hyped regular season game in football history.
“Mac fought hard and made a lot of plays for us,” Belichick declared in his postgame remarks before retreating to the visiting locker room at Gillette for a 20-plus minute pow-wow with Brady.
Jones is even winning on the stat sheet when compared to the man whom all quarterbacks will be measured against moving forward both in terms of winning and numbers. Jones completed 31 of 41 passes for 275 yards with two touchdowns and one under-pressure interception for a 101.6 passer rating in the losing “effort.” Meanwhile Brady escaped New England with the win by completing 22 of 43 passes for 269 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions for the 70.8 passer rating despite having clearly the superior surrounding weapons. Subjective as it may be, it’s not hard to argue the rookie was the better of the two quarterbacks in this back-and-forth affair.
Lastly, and maybe most importantly, Jones has won over his locker room and veteran teammates.
When Jones took the field with an opportunity for his first-career game-winning drive there was no doubt on the home sideline that he would give his team a chance. That Nick Folk’s 56-yard field goal attempt bounced off the left upright resulting in the loss doesn’t change that belief in Jones.
“I think the best thing about it is we’re not thinking about it,” Devin McCourty said of his rookie QB in a tough spot. “We’re not worried about the kid. He’s been preparing. The guy’s in here late. He’s in here early every day. He’s one of the guys now. We don’t see him as a rookie.
Honestly, we expect him to lead. We expect him to be our quarterback. I think that speaks volumes about how far he’s grown since he’s been here. He has everybody’s trust in that locker room.”
“He just keeps showing he has some guts,” center Davis Andrews added. “It’s an honor to play with a guy like that. We just have to find a way to win a football game. He battles. He’s a tough kid.”
And there’s the rub. The winning part. Something that Jones did without fail a year ago at Alabama, leading Nick Saban’s Tide to the national title. Something Brady did throughout his tenure.
Winning isn’t everything right now for the developing Jones, but it’s the only thing left that really eluding the impressive young Patriots quarterback. And it’s certainly not all on him.
“I’ve thought about it and I think he’s a guy, he’s prepared for this moment. He wants this moment,” McCourty added about Jones. “I think the biggest thing, as veterans and older guys on the team is to continue to support him, continue to build him up and show him that he’s doing a good job. We just have to help him.”
Help him find a way to win. Because that’s the final hurdle for Jones and the new look Patriots.
Jones already proved he could beat out Cam Newton for the job. Proved he is worthy of the starting job each week. Proved that a week of over-the-top hype for Brady’s return wouldn’t be a distraction. Proved he could do enough to hang with Brady over four quarters in the rain.
Now, now he just needs to find a way to win more often.
Regardless of how that comes.
“I have a long way to go, and I just try to put my best foot forward every day, and we all want to win,” Jones, a self-described perfectionist, concluded. “So it sucks right now, but I think we have to take it for a positive. We have a long season ahead and there's a lot of work to do and we have a lot of progress to make, so we will.”