The Patriots and Mac Jones, their second-year quarterback, will take a 1-1 record and lingering questions in Sunday's matchup with the Ravens.
, along with the good fortune of being able to select Jones with the 15th choice in last year’s draft. The team started slowly last season but was 9-4 after the 14-10 victory over the Bills on Dec. 6, a game in which Jones attempted only three passes.It unraveled from there. The 47-17 defeat to the Bills in the opening round of the AFC playoffs was particularly dispiriting to fans.of the Las Vegas Raiders in the offseason.
Jones, through two games, has two touchdown passes, two interceptions and a passer rating of 83.2, down from last season’s mark of 92.5. Former NFL quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, now an analyst for ESPN, said on the network’s pregame show Sunday that the Patriots “did this to yourself” and urged the team’s coaches to keep the approach simpler for Jones. The Patriots won Sunday at Pittsburgh, rebounding from a season-opening loss at Miami.
“There’s things that you want to have back,” Jones said Wednesday. “But if you win the game, you can sit there and complain about plays you wish you had back, but at the end of the day, you won. And that’s what’s important. So it’s not about always winning super pretty all the time. It’s about winning. That’s all I care about. That’s all I’ve ever cared about. All the other stuff takes care of itself.”“I’d say we improved from Week 1 to Week 2,” he said. “It’s not all me. It’s everybody.
Belichick said he thinks Jones has “gotten better at a lot of things,” and Patriots veterans continue to praise the young quarterback and his approach.“He would be crazy if he built his career off what people write and say about him, because … there’s not that many people that played that position at a high level and can do that consistently,” McCourty said.
The task within the AFC East suddenly is daunting. The Bills, regarded as this season’s Super Bowl favorite by many observers, are