For the third time this season, Bill Belichick and the Patriots coaching staff made the decision to bench Mac Jones. Belichick’s choice to bench Jones with a potential chance to win the game showed he didn’t trust the former first-round pick to win the game late against the Colts.
The benching happened after Mac Jones delivered his tenth interception of the season when he targeted Mike Gesicki in the end zone.
Bill Belichick didn’t give much insight when asked about the benching after the game.
“I thought it was time for a change,” Belichick told reporters when he was asked repeatedly about his decision to remove Jones.
So, where do the Patriots go from here? First, they have to get through their bye week, and if Bill Belichick is still the coach after the bye, it sparks an interesting debate. Is Jones done in New England? What about Zappe? Belichick was asked about the quarterback position going forward and gave a brief answer.
“We’ll worry about next week, next week. The game just finished.”
Jones started the game effectively. However, it didn’t last long. It took a turn for the worse with 4:24 minutes remaining in the game when Mac Jones threw a costly interception to Julian Blackmon.
“It was a terrible throw. Hit it in practice, just not a good throw. I knew where to go, just didn’t do it right,” Jones said. “There were some things I was working through, but it doesn’t matter. No excuses.”
Many Patriots teammates didn’t open up too much and remained tight-lipped when discussing the quarterback situation.
Offensive captain, tight-end Hunter Henry deflected most of the questions sent his way.
“I don’t make all of those decisions,” Henry added. “I think you’ll have to ask Coach about that one.”
“I play football. That’s what I do. I play,” center David Andrews said. “I don’t make those decisions. Coaches do what they think [is] best for the football team.”
Another Patriots receiver said he was surprised to see the Patriots benched Mac Jones. However, Smith-Schuster has full confidence in backup Bailey Zappe.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was surprised,” JuJu said when asked about Mac Jones being benched.
I’m very confident in [Bailey Zappe] him. He shows spurts in practice, what he can do. I don’t doubt that he can come in and do the job.”
Captain Matthew Slater stays off social media but wants the former Alabama quarterback to stay positive.
“He’s got to stay positive,” Slater told the media. “Right now, everybody’s counting him out. I’m sure there’s a lot of negativity. There’s a lot of negativity surrounding our team. We have to ignore all that because it shouldn’t impact how we operate day to day.”
In the locker room, Zeke Elliott was asked by the media if the team would benefit from a QB change. The veteran running back’s answer is noteworthy.
“I don’t know. I think today we showed how good of a run game we have, and I think that we have two really good running backs. And I think that our O-line is great in the run game, and they showed that today. … I think we could run it more. But to do that, we have to take care of the football. We have to eliminate the penalties so we don’t have long distances. But the more we put ourselves in position to run the football, the better off this offense will be.”
Nevertheless, the Patriots will have some major changes and questions to answer as they enter their bye week.
My name is Ben Belford-Peltzman and I am the creator and writer of The Patriots Beat. I am a 17-year kid who is an optimistic pessimist about the City of Champions. I started The Patriots Beat in August of 2022 and never expected to grow so much but here we are. Feel free to email Thepatriotsbeat@gmail.com with any inquires.
