ARLINGTON, Texas – A week after Mac Jones was a social-media punching bag, the Patriots quarterback fell on his face inside AT&T Stadium.
Sunday’s embarrassing loss to the Dallas Cowboys would’ve been the perfect opportunity for Jones to move on after his controversial ‘love tap’ to Sauce Gardner. Instead, Jones had the worst performance of his NFL career and was ‘benched’ in favor of Bailey Zappe.
The performance (12/21 passing for 150 yards to go with three turnovers) only reinforced the national dislike for this Patriots quarterback. Inside the visitor’s locker room, however, it was a different story.
Patriots players were quick to leave AT&T Stadium this evening, but the ones who stuck around voiced their support for Jones and the future of this offense.
“I’m very confident in Mac,” said Patriots captain and defensive lineman Deatrich Wise. “Listen, Mac’s a worker. He’s a competitor. He tries to make plays – sometimes when you try to make plays, it doesn’t always go your way. He’s been here three years. He’s made some great plays in his career. This game is just one of those games that happens. We’re still behind him. We’ll still be behind him tomorrow and the day after that. I believe in him 100%.”
“We’re behind him, regardless,” added running back Rhamondre Stevenson. “We’re a team. We love him. We all love each other in there. We’re behind him. We’ve got his back.”
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Jones had a horrible, no good, very bad day against the Cowboys. The problems started immediately.
The offense started fine on Sunday – thanks to a 42-yard catch and run from Demario Douglas on the first series. This momentum, however, dissipated when Jones and Mike Gesicki couldn’t in the end zone on third-and-1. The Patriots settled for a field goal and that turned out to be their only points on Sunday.
For offensive players, the results this season have been frustrating. The group has failed to surpass the 20-point mark through four weeks. Receiver Kendrick Bourne said he felt the group lacked vigor.
“Just playing with no energy. Seemed like we couldn’t get any momentum. That’s what sucks,” Bourne told MassLive. “Not really sure – as a wide out we can’t really see what’s going on with the o-line or whatever. It seemed like there were a lot of scramble plays. No momentum. No energy. We’ve got to play better.”
“I’m not sure why (we’re stalling),” added DeVante Parker. “We’ve got plenty of time to fix it. I’m going to look forward to this week and start it over again. 0-0.”
Parker’s words were echoed by other Patriots in the visitor’s locker room. The feeling in New England is that the Patriots have a much better group than last year’s frustrating affair. However, through four weeks, we haven’t seen that.
On Sunday, Jones had a horrible six-drive stretch where he turned the ball over three times and the group went three-and-out the other three series. After that, Zappe came in and Jones was on the sideline.
After the game, Jones moved slowly around the locker room before talking at the post-game press conference. He said he was disappointed in himself, but was aiming to not let this hurt the team going forward.
“For me, just bury it, try to learn from it and move on. Don’t make it turn into another loss,” Jones said. “My rookie year didn’t start off great and we just kept working. I tried to play better. That’s what I have to do here and it has to be a lot better by me.”
Before he spoke to the media, Patriots offensive players said they were going to encourage their quarterback and tell him to push forward.
“Honestly, you got to keep your head up. You’ve got to stay positive,” JuJu Smith-Schuster said when asked about his message to Jones. “I think it’s very important that when Zap goes in, he’s still there, he’s still supporting and helping out, which is great.”
“Just tell him to stay locked in. There’s a lot of football left,” Bourne said.
Added Parker: “Just tell him to keep his head up. We still have a lot of games left. Don’t let one game make you feel down on yourself.”
Jones is well-liked by his teammates. He’s a workaholic and that resonates in the locker room. Of course, this quarterback also knows the NFL is a results-based business. He has his teammates’ support, but Jones knows what must happen next.
“I’m definitely disappointed, but at the end of the day, I’m going to keep grinding. Hopefully, the guys will come with me,” Jones said. “It’s hard for me to sit up here and say that. I’m very disappointed with myself. I’ve got to bounce back.”
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