Mac Jones ….Returned???
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The New England Patriots suffered a streak ending 33-14 loss against the Chicago Bears, Oct. 24.
Returning quarterback Mac Jones led the Patriots into the game but only managed to complete half his passes for 13 yards and one interception before he was replaced by Bailey Zappe.
Zappe managed to take the 10-0 lead the Bears had and turn it into a 14-10 lead within the first half of the second quarter.
Zappe was intercepted twice but threw for 185 yards while completing 14-22 passes. Matthew Judon led the team with 2.5 sacks and Myles Bryant had an interception for 11 yards. But the fact remains that the Patriots lost the game and ended their two-game win streak.
Justin Fields completed 13-21 throws for 179 yards and one interception. On top of that, he also had 14 rushes for 82 yards and another touchdown. The Bears’ offense was able to tear through the deflated Patriots defense.
Warren Sharp, an NFL analyst for FOX Sports, wrote that he left the game “scratching [his] head” over Belichick’s decision to start Jones knowing that he had missed multiple weeks and is still dealing with an ankle injury.
“Start the 2-0 Zappe, and if he’s struggling, bring in Jones. But starting Jones, seeing him lead the team to back-to-back punts... hearing the home crowd boo him and chant for his backup, and then pulling him when he throws and interception was gross mismanagement,” wrote Sharp.
Not only starting Jones but pulling him when he doesn’t meet expectations right away after an injury is ridiculous.
How did Patriots management not see how much Jones still needed to recover and get back into the groove? Instead, they threw him to the wolves and told him to fend for himself.
Zappe was the obvious choice to start the game after he had a two-game win streak because it would allow Jones to get some much-needed rest and time to get ready again. With the team in Zappe’s hands, Jones would be able to mentor the backup and give advice.
Rather than looking out for the quarterbacks, the Patriots management opted to rush Jones and seemed to increase Zappe Fever consequently.
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