Following what happened against the Chicago Bears in Week 7, every pass Mac Jones threw against the New York Jets on Sunday was going to have extra attention, even the ones that didn't count.
Jones arguably threw the most egregious pass of his career on Sunday in an unofficial play as part of the Patriots' 22-17 win. Late in the first half and with New England at New York's 25-yard line down seven, Jones threw a pass directly to Jets defensive back Michael Carter, who caught the ball and ran all the way for a pick-six. However, Jets defensive end John Franklin-Meyers launched into Jones after the pass was thrown, earning a roughing the passer penalty and negating the pick-6.
The Patriots' second-year quarterback didn't want to make any bold assessments of the play when asked about it following Sunday's game, but he took responsibility for the throw.
“I think that’s something I’ll have to see on film,” Jones said. “But I knew what I was trying to do with it, and just a little miscommunication. But I can’t have those. The penalty saved us, but I definitely want to eliminate those plays. I’ve got to watch it and see what I can do better.”
Didn't see a good enough replay of the Mac Jones pick-6 that wasn't. Appears to be an option route to Jakobi Meyers. He chooses inside, Mac throws out. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/52T5ru9TJ7
— Mike Giardi (@MikeGiardi) October 30, 2022
Instead of trying to take a chance to tie the game before halftime, the Patriots opted to play it conservatively and settle for a field goal to make it a four-point game.
Mac Jones and the Patriots played well coming out of the break with the quarterback leading his team on a touchdown drive, connecting with Jakobi Meyers for a five-yard score on a fourth-and-1. Jones credited Bill Belichick along with quarterbacks coach Joe Judge and offensive play-caller Matt Patricia for the team's approach to open up the drive.
“They’ve done a good job all year of adjusting at halftime. I think that’s something they’re doing a great job of and that obviously benefits us in the second half and we were able to go down there and move the ball,” Jones said. “Obviously, we want to score more points, we know that, and we’ll have plenty of stuff to work on, but super proud of the guys on offense for just sticking with it and trying to battle through against a really good defense.”
The touchdown drive was the first of four scoring drives for the Patriots in the second half, though the other three were field goals. Jones steered clear of any mistakes, unlike opposing quarterback Zach Wilson who threw three interceptions on Sunday.
Jones ended up completing 24-of-35 passes for 194 yards with a touchdown and an interception. It obviously isn't the sexiest stat line, but Jones helped make some big plays in the first half. On the team's first scoring drive, he threw for a pair of first downs and ran for another on their first three third-down situations. He also picked up another first down on a third-down play with his legs to help New England move the ball down the field, which happened often as the Patriots got into Jets territory in all but three of their 13 possessions.
Jones didn't answer if he had any extra motivation for Sunday's game following his benching in Week 7, but said he “always [tries] to be internally motivated.”
“There’s obviously things you can control, and for me, it’s just my attitude and my effort, being a good teammate and showing up and trying to work and lead the guys,” Jones added. “That’s a good attribute that I have is my communication, I feel like we did extra things this week together as a team, and really as an offense that showed up on the field and if we continue to do that, we’ll see better results.
“I thought the process is there, I’m just super happy to be a part of this and want to continue to grow here. One game isn’t good enough, so we’ll be ready for next week.”
🚨 TOUCHDOWN PATRIOTS 🚨
Jakobi Meyers gives us the lead to start the 2nd half!pic.twitter.com/F0kXogXtdX
— Patriots Nation (@PatsNationCP) October 30, 2022
Jones also shared what extra things the Patriots did to prepare for Sunday's game against the Jets, who had one of the league's top defenses coming into the matchup.
“Just talking through some things, watching extra film together was very beneficial, getting more reps in our own time, talking through things,” Jones said. “Just whatever we had questions on we were just more – ‘All right, how do we this? What do we need to do here?’ So, obviously that’s important, you want to be on the same page, and I felt like we made strides there.”
More important than anything, Jones seemed happy about the Patriots' all-around performance in order to secure a win against the 5-2 Jets to help get back to .500.
“It’s great. I think that’s why football is the greatest team sport,” Jones said. “You have a game plan. I feel like we laid out the targets that we wanted to hit and we hit most of them, so that’s part of it. I’m just super happy that we won, but we’re always going to try to look at the things we can do better and that’s what we’ll do.
“Great job on defense and special teams and offensively trying to just battle through it and find a way and that’s what the National Football League is.”
Jones and the Patriots will look to build the momentum from Sunday into their Week 9 matchup against Indianapolis Colts, who are 3-4-1 on the season.
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