Jones takes a step backward
Optimism against Bills doesn’t last very long
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — One week after turning in his best performance of the season in a win over the Bills, Mac Jones reverted to his inconsistent self in Sunday’s loss to the Dolphins.
He finished 19-for-29 passing for 161 yards, with two touchdowns and an interception in the 31-17 loss.
“Offensively, we didn’t have the production,” Jones said. “It’s the National Football League. It’s a really good team. They made some plays out there. It’s frustrating. But at the end of the day, we had it as a one-score game and couldn’t capitalize from the offensive side; either trying to get the score tied up or just make it a game in the fourth quarter.”
When asked about Jones’s performance, coach Bill Belichick responded with a broad answer.
“Asa team, it wasn’t good enough,” Belichick said.
Jones started strong. He completed six of his first seven passes, and he hit Kendrick Bourne on a 24-yard touchdown pass. The play, coming in the wake of a Kyle Dugger interception, was cause for optimism, especially given the way the Buffalo game ended.
But things started to go south late in the first half. With two minutes left in the second quarter and Miami sitting on a 14-7 lead, the Patriots were driving for a tying touchdown. That’s when Jalen Ramsey, in his first game action of the season after offseason surgery, stepped in front of a ball meant for Bourne at the goal line and took it back 40 yards.
The Dolphins turned that into a late field goal, making it 17-7 heading into halftime.
Although the Patriots put together one fourth-quarter scoring drive to get to 24-17 with 8:30 left in regulation, it was the secondquarter pick that set the tone for much of the afternoon.
“He fell off on the one play and he made a play,” Jones said of Ramsey’s interception.
“It’s what he does. He’s a good player. Obviously his first game back . . . he was very productive. You could tell that they called the defense that way.
“I knew the coverage,’' Jones said. “I knew everything. I just made a bad throw really late. I didn’t really drive it. That’s what happens on that play — the guy either takes it and it’s a touchdown or he falls off. That can happen. But you can’t do that as a quarterback. Just throw it out of bounds or take the checkdown and move on.”
Jones played well the previous week at home, sparking optimism he had turned things around. But as has been the case on many occasions this season, the quarterback and the offense were unable to sustain success.
“Every week is different, and the game plan changes,” Jones said. “Like I said, we just need a little more production from me, from everybody.
“That’s where it starts. It starts with the quarterback. I can be cleaner on my reads and all that stuff. You have to be really sharp against a team with a really good offense. I thought the defense fought really hard. That’s a really good football team we played.”
The end result leaves the Patriots at 2-6, and will leave some wondering about Jones’s future in New England.
“It’s not the record we want,” Jones said. “I have to really just review the game film, see where my feet are, and see what I can do better as a quarterback. And everybody else will do that — or try to do that.”
“It’s hard, right? You don’t want to be here. You don’t want to be in this position. But at the end of the day, we’re playing football, and we have to go out there and figure it out.”
“We all need to play better,” Belichick said when asked if Jones was his quarterback. “We all need to coach and play better.”
Jones’s teammates continue to have faith in him.
“He’s a competitor,” tight end Hunter Henry said. “He works his tail off And he takes everything . . . we all know we have to be better. It’s not just him. Dude is going to go back to work. And I know that. I’ve seen that time and time again. And he’ll be ready to go again, I know he will, next week.”
Smith-Schuster: ‘Clean hit’
JuJu Smith-Schuster had an eventful afternoon.
The veteran receiver, making his first appearance since sustaining a concussion against the Saints earlier this month, didn’t see the field until early in the fourth quarter, and that was because of injuries to Bourne and DeVante Parker.
“We played multiple people. We played multiple people,” Belichick said. “We can’t play everybody.”
Smith-Schuster ended up with one catch — a fourth-quarter touchdown — for 3 yards. But later in the quarter, he made waves when he delivered a big hit on Miami’s Brandon Jones, who picked off a pass from Jones but Smith-Schuster jarred the ball loose. The hit set off a bench-clearing melee that featured plenty of pushing and shoving.
“I just saw the defensive player go for the interception, and just tried to make a play, he said. “Just while he was coming down with the ball, I hit him in the chest, and tried to get the ball out. Clean hit. Clean hit.”
Smith-Schuster, who was whistled for a personal foul, said that given the nature of the collision, he understood why the Dolphins got so heated.
“Of course they’re upset,” he said. “I can see why. But it was a clean hit.”
“To me, it was . . . it wasn’t head to head,” said defensive lineman Christian Barmore, who was in the thick of the scrum. “He made him not get the pick, so he was doing his job. He didn’t stand over him. He walked right [over to the] sideline. Guys got mad, came off the sideline, so we got mad.”
“Any time you have a divisional game, it’s like that,” safety Jabrill Peppers said. “The stakes are higher. It means more. It counts for two. It’s just football. Ain’t nothing too serious. It’s football.”
Smith-Schuster gave credit to the rest of the receivers who were able to make plays in his absence.
“I know my boys that are out there on the field, they’re going to make their plays,” he said. “The guys that they put out there, the coaches they have lined up, they’re going to make plays. When my opportunity comes, you just have to make the best of it.”
Receivers were too much
The Patriots defense looked strong out of the gate, limiting Tyreek Hill without a catch over the first 14-plus minutes.
But the dam eventually broke when Hill beat J.C. Jackson for a 42-yard touchdown late in the first quarter, setting the stage for a wild stretch for Hill (8 catches, 112 yards, touchdown) and Jaylen Waddle (7 catches, 121 yards, touchdown), who would end up dominating the game.
“They made the plays that came to them,” Peppers said. “They took advantage. That’s really it. We always want to be physical. Week in and week out. Just have to do a better job of executing.”
The Miami offense outgunned New England almost two to one (390 to 218). When asked where the Patriots go from here, Peppers shrugged.
“Stranger things have happened,” he said. “Just have to lock back in. Have to go back out there next week and hope to get the results you want.”