FOXBOROUGH – Mac Jones faced a tough reaction from his home fans again on Saturday. In the early stages of the New England Patriots' 22-18 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, Jones and the rest of the offense struggled as they failed to get the ball over midfield until the end of the third quarter.

In between that time, Jones was booed as Patriots fans chanted for Bailey Zappe to come into the game.

But Jones battled back in the fourth quarter. He had one of the most impressive stretches of play in his two-year career, throwing a pair of touchdown passes and helping make big plays as the Patriots ultimately lost. Jones ended up completing 21-of-33 passes for 240 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions.

Jones took some pride in his play in the fourth quarter, however, he was mostly disappointed with the final result.

“Obviously tough loss for us here,” Jones said. “Definitely things I want to do better. And just got to keep working, got to watch the film and keep working together I think. We didn't quit. We fought hard and at the end of the day, we got to score more points. And we got the ball moving a little bit.

“But just want to capitalize and score more points. So falls on me as a quarterback. And super disappointed, but also a lot to look back on and realize that we have fighters on this team. And that's tough to say in a loss, but we do, we have fighters on this team. I thought everybody on our offense and defense and special teams fought to the end.”

Part of the reason the comeback happened was due to Kendrick Bourne's insertion into the lineup. After a career year in 2201, Bourne hasn't played much this season for unknown reasons. He got on the field in the second half though on Sunday, catching six passes for 100 yards and a touchdown, which was an impressive grab in the back of the end zone.

Jones wouldn't say why he thought Bourne hasn't played as much this season when asked but shared his appreciation for the veteran receiver.

“I think KB, he's a great teammate, and he's one of my closest friends,” Jones said. “Every time I've seen him, he's had a smile on his face, even in a situation like that at the end of the game where we're trying to fight back and there's a lot of pressure, he's in there smiling, like, ‘let's go do that.' When you see that from a guy, and I'm saying the same stuff in the huddle, I want to look for a guy like that, who wants to compete and play and play with effort. He's one of those guys. And we've got all those guys, the receivers did a great job.”

Jones' other touchdown pass came on a highlight play, in which he threw the ball 48 yards down the field on a third-and-29 hoping for something to happen. Practice squad tight end Scotty Washington tipped the ball, which found its way back to Jakobi Meyers who caught it and ran into the end zone.

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Jones credited his teammates for making the play work.

“Just a great play. It was good to see, that's an example of competing, right?” Jones said. “Scotty jumps up there, tries to make a play. Then Jakobi is right there waiting for it. And the offensive line, on that play, when we watch it, did a great job of just competing. I roll this way, I roll that way. They were throwing blocks left and right.

“Love that for those guys. At the end of the day just came up short in other situations and got to get off to a faster start and maybe the game's a little bit different. So definitely disappointing.”

Jones also credited the Patriots' leaders for helping him remain tough through everything that happened in the first three quarters of Sunday's game.

“I think we've got a lot of tough players on this team. I look up to a lot of guys like Jakobi [Meyers] and KB and [Matthew] Slater and Devin [McCourty]. I've been able to watch my first two years here. And the best players on our team are the toughest players and there's times when I need to be more tough and stand in there and rip it and all that stuff.

“We're all out there competing. That's what it's all about. It's just not quitting and keep competing and we'll do that as an offense. We'll do that as a defense. Do it as special teams. I think the guys themselves, we're all going to compete. So that will never change.”

Jones and the Patriots will look to continue competing next week when they host the Maimi Dolphins. If they already weren't there, the Patriots are in a must-win territory as they dropped to 7-8 on the season with their loss on Sunday.