Not surprisingly, Bill Belichick had no interest in revealing anything about his plan at the quarterback position after Monday night’s debacle against the Chicago Bears at home during his weekly appearance on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.”
His removal of Mac Jones, who showed significant rust and looked uncomfortable at times, after just three series in favor of rookie Bailey Zappe touched off a firestorm of discussion and briefly gave the Patriots a spark on Monday Night Football, with Zappe leading two straight touchdown drives.
But the rookie out of Western Kentucky struggled from there on out, throwing two interceptions and failing to score again as the Bears ran away with the game late.
According to Belichick, though, Jones coming out of the game when he did wasn’t about the second-year quarterback’s bad interception in the second quarter or the health of his balky left ankle, nor was the fact that Jones didn’t play for the rest of the game a sign that the starter was benched.
“We were going to play both quarterbacks, and that’s what we did,” the coach told the show. “That was what we were planning to do…the game got of hand there in the third quarter, so I didn’t feel like it was in the best interest to put Mac back in the game. That’s really it.”
Even more puzzling following the loss was how many players seemed surprised at Jones being taken out of the game, with Jakobi Meyers, Mike Onwenu, Rhamondre Stevenson and Nelson Agholor all saying they had no awareness of the Patriots’ plans at quarterback.
One unnamed offensive player even reportedly apologized to Jones for the awkward handling of the situation, according to Mark Daniels of MassLive.
Belichick remained adamant, though, that the plan was communicated well enough to his players before the game.
“I talked to the quarterbacks, talked to the leaders of the team. Everyone knew what the plan was,” he said. “I mean, not every single person, obviously. I wouldn’t talk to every person about another player’s role in the game…there’s no lack of communication.
Both Jones and Zappe deferred to Belichick’s “plan” during their postgame comments, suggesting they knew at least part of what was about to transpired.
But it seems none of those leaders were on the offensive side of the football, then, because none of those guys seemed to have any idea what Belichick was about to do. Perhaps they’re just used to going in and running what’s called regardless of who’s in, but the handling of the situation clearly bothered receiver Jakobi Meyers, who feels like an important person on the team.
While it might make sense that not everyone needs to know if Marcus Jones will start over Myles Bryant as a slot cornerback, quarterback feels…more important than that.
Speaking of which, Belichick predictably would not say who would start for the Patriots against the Jets in a highly important divisional matchup, simply saying as he often does that he would “do what we feel is best for the football team.”
If Monday night was any indication of “what’s best for the football team,” how can we be sure Sunday’s game against the Jets won’t be as big a train wreck as this last one was?
