The New England Patriots didn't have extremely high expectations heading into the 2023 season, but nobody expected that six weeks into the season that there would be serious discussions about Bill Belichick and Mac Jones' future with the team. However, when you crawl out to a 1-5 start and put together arguably the worst three-game stretch of the entire Belichick era in New England, those things will happen.
The Patriots Week 6 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders felt like a death sentence for these Patriots, and by extension, Belichick and Jones. After getting throttled by the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints in consecutive weeks, the Pats were unable to pull out a victory over an equally mediocre Raiders squad who ended up having to play the second half of the game with Brian Hoyer at quarterback after Jimmy Garoppolo was forced out of the game early with a back injury.
With the Buffalo Bills on the schedule in Week 7, pretty much everyone in their right minds expected New England to lose. Instead, they put together arguably their best performance over Jones' two-plus years with the team, and pulled out a 29-25 victory over the Bills. So much about this victory was unusual for this version of the Pats, and it may have just saved Belichick and Jones their jobs.
Bill Belichick finally got his Patriots squad to go out and perform
The buildup to this game was extremely unique for a Patriots team that has experienced so much winning since the turn of the century. With a 1-5 record, and their next two games coming up against the Bills and Miami Dolphins, it seemed like New England was toast. And if they kept on losing, the growing disdain for Belichick on the sidelines and Jones under center would only increase.
Before the game even started, news leaked to the public that Belichick had quietly signed an extension to remain the Patriots head coach beyond the 2023 season, which was a proposition that seemed extremely unlikely to happen just a few days ago. While New England won this game, this was likely a power play from Belichick letting Robert Kraft know that firing him would not be an easy task if that's what it came down to.
Instead, Belichick put together a vintage coaching performance to help the Patriots win this game, which was a thoroughly enjoyable sight given how awful New England looked over the past three weeks. I've admittedly been among the crowd calling for Belichick's head in recent weeks, but that doesn't mean myself or other irritated Patriots fans don't want him to succeed; we want him to do what he did against the Bills.
The main issue with the Patriots was how lifeless they had looked throughout the season to this point. They continually fell behind early, committed tons of penalties, and didn't seem to have any concern with losing games in humiliating fashion as they were doing. Ultimately, that's a reflection of the coaching, which is why Belichick was painted in such a bad light in these corners.
All that changed against the Bills, though. The Patriots were the team that surprisingly jumped out to a lead here, and aside from a brief 1:46 stretch in the fourth quarter, they held the lead for the entire game. New England committed fewer penalties than Buffalo, and perhaps most importantly, Belichick didn't bench Kendrick Bourne for a fumble late in the fourth that nearly cost the Pats the game. Bill Belichick fought for his life in Week 7, and he provided a nice reminder that he isn't washed up just yet.
Mac Jones finally gets clutch game-winning drive to his name
On the field, though, this might have been an even more encouraging performance from Jones under center. Through six games this season, Jones had been benched twice midway through the second half, and showed so much regression that highlights from his rookie season seemed like they were from decades ago. But against the Bills, Jones showed the Patriots what he's capable of.
Jones successfully outdueled a perennial MVP candidate in Josh Allen for much of the afternoon, and while Allen finally woke up in the fourth quarter to give Buffalo their first lead of the day, that didn't bother Jones at all. After leading for the entire game, it felt like deja vu when Allen punched the football into the end zone from a yard out and then converted the two-point conversion on a pass to Dawson Knox to give the Bills a 25-22 lead.
We've seen this story countless times throughout Jones' short tenure with the Patriots. New England holds their own against a team that is better than them, has a chance to win the game late, only to fall flat on their face. Kayshon Boutte's inability to keep his feet inbounds against the Philadelphia Eagles and Mike Gesicki's failed lateral to Cole Strange against the Miami Dolphins are just two examples from this season.
This was pretty much Jones' last chance to prove his naysayers wrong, and he delivered easily the biggest drive of his career to this point. With 1:58 on the clock and two timeouts left, that was more than enough time for Jones to get the Patriots into field goal range to tie this game. He pretty much accomplished that on the first play of the drive when he found Rhamondre Stevenson for a 34-yard catch-and-run that took the ball all the way up to the Bills 41-yard line.
After a pair of confusing run calls from Bill O'Brien, Jones faced 3rd-and-8 with a clock ticking under a minute left in the game. The Bills sent pressure, but he delivered a beautiful strike to Hunter Henry for 14 yards that gave the Patriots a new set of downs. Considering all the struggles Jones has had this season, especially when facing pressure, this was the biggest throw of his career, and boy did he deliver.
Jones eventually led the Patriots down to Buffalo's one-yard line, where he found Mike Gesicki for the game-winning score. And in the blink of an eye, Jones led his first big game-winning drive against a formidable opponent. New England didn't walk away from a game with moral victories; they actually got the win this time around.
Where New England goes from here remains to be seen. They have another tough contest in Week 8 against a Dolphins team they played well in Week 2, but for the first time in a while, the Patriots have something they can feel genuinely good about with this victory over Buffalo. The spotlight is still going to be on Belichick and Jones for the foreseeable future, but for at least one week, they managed to garner some good will in New England, and everyone will be curious to see where they go from here.
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