It really does feel like Mac Jones will indeed be the Patriots’ quarterback for the foreseeable future, barring an injury or a stunning collapse, after yesterday’s performance.
That’s not because he played particularly well in Sunday’s win over the Jets — his numbers (24/35 for 194 yards passing, TD, INT) won’t blow anyone away, and he had a few plays he’d like to have back.
Rather, Bill Belichick seems to be seeing the forest for the trees with Jones in a way most outsiders aren’t at the moment.
Belichick, who surpassed George Halas as the second-winningest head coach of all time on Sunday, defended Jones’ play on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” when asked about the young quarterback’s turnover-worthy plays.
“The interception yesterday, he got hit as he was throwing the ball,” he responded with mild annoyance. “If the pass-blocking could be better, that would help.”
That pick, which happened thanks to a hit from behind allowed by right tackle Marcus Cannon, was simply bad luck for Jones rather than a bad play as was his near-INT that ricocheted off Isaiah Wynn’s helmet but was dropped by a linebacker.
His errant throw to Jets cornerback Michael Carter for a would-be pick-six that was wiped out by a roughing-the-passer call, though, was more a miscommunication than a bad decision, according to Belichick.
“Again, a lot of that is team execution — a combination of the play, the coverage, the route, the adjustment and so forth…it’s certainly not all on one player,” he explained.
The coach’s take on Jones’ performance boils down to a simple message: it’s going to take a lot more than this sort of game, especially against an aggressive Jets defense that challenges quarterbacks, to make him lose faith in his young quarterback.
In particular, it seems to suggest there was no doubt that Belichick would ride with Jones once the going started to get tough, trusting his experience to get the Patriots through games like this more than the largely unproven Bailey Zappe's flashes of brilliance.
It’d be great if the Patriots could get Jones playing at a higher level by the time the Patriots get to late November. But at this point, maybe you just have to take the progress where you can find it.
