Mac Jones took his first regular-season snaps with the Jacksonville Jaguars Monday night.
It did not go well.
The former New England Patriots quarterback entered the game during the closing minutes of the Jaguars’ blowout loss to the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football.
Trailing 40-10 in the fourth quarter, Jacksonville pulled Trevor Lawrence and handed Jones the keys to the offense during garbage time.
After handing the ball off twice, Jones dropped back to pass on his third play and was strip-sacked by rookie pass rusher Javon Solomon, with the Bills coming up with the recovery. You can watch the play here.
Jones came back in on the Jaguars’ ensuing drive, which went pretty well. Jones completed his first two actual pass attempts for a total of 14 yards to move the chains.
Thanks to some solid running plays, Jacksonville got within striking distance later on the drive. Jones almost finished it with a touchdown pass on fourth down in the closing minute. The pass was on the money, but receiver Parker Washington couldn’t come down with the catch in the endzone.
The end result: Jones finished 5-of-8 passing for 22 yards, with his longest pass going for nine yards. That’s a meager 2.8 yards per pass attempt. (For reference, Jacoby Brissett averaged 5.4 yards per attempt in the Patriots’ loss to the New York Jets on Monday Night Football.)
With the Jaguars already unraveling, Jones was thrust into a tough situation Monday night. It was a far cry from the preseason, where Jones played lights-out en route to winning the No. 2 quarterback job in Jacksonville.
