Patriots fans burn Mac Jones’ jersey after team’s devastating 10-6 loss vs Colts in Germany
Is Mac Jones public enemy number one in New England right now?
In the lowest-scoring game of the 2023 season so far, the Patriots lost 6-10 against the Indianapolis Colts in Frankfurt on Sunday. Only running back Jonathan Taylor managed to reach the endzone - in the first quarter.
Shortly after the game, social media personality BabzOnTheMic posted two videos of Patriots fans burning Jones' jersey:
Mac Jones, Bailey Zappe struggled during Patriots' low-scoring loss to Colts
Saturday morning in America was apparently not a good time to be a Patriots quarterback fan.
Both Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe, (as well as the Colts' Gardner Minshew) - failed to see the endzone at all. But the one-time Pro Bowler was a particularly harrowing case, as he was picked off once and eventually benched for the sophomore late into the game:
But Zappe himself also struggled, sealing the game with a interception off a fake spike:
Both of them were clearly hard on themselves after the defeat:
Jones: “I think it’s hard, right? It’s a difficult situation. But at the end of the day, I really did want the team to win. I’ll always be that person. I know that we didn’t win, so it’s hard for everybody, but I have to play better to not even be in that situation. It’s not ideal for anybody. No one is going to do good in that situation.”
Zappe: “I mean, can’t say what I want to say. But we were kind of behind on time the way we talk about yards — one yard for every second. So we were trying to get ahead of the time by taking a shot. We figured the play that we had, but that was just me trying to force it and make a play, get us ahead on time.”
Could Colts loss herald the end of Mac Jones' time with the Patriots? Analysts think so
Meanwhile, Belichick was coy about Jones' future:
“We’ll deal with next week, next week.”
However, Jason Bell, former cornerback and current league analyst for Sky Sports, disagreed with such coyness, stating that the organization must take action:
"I can tell you one thing for sure: Mac Jones is not the future. Not letting him have the opportunity at the end to go down there and score, that is about pure belief. 'This isn't for you and we're going to have to move on.'"
His fellow analyst Phoebe Schecter concurred with him:
"(Mac Jones) has not developed and, if anything, he has regressed over the last three years. When it comes down to it, it almost gets to a point like with guys like Sam Darnold and Zach Wilson, where they become a hindrance to themselves and they lose that confidence.
"Also you add the fact that he has really lost that locker room in a lot of different ways. You usually look to your quarterback, your leader on the field, to help hype you up... but that's just not Mac Jones."
Will Grier is the team's only other active quarterback, so they will have much thinking to do during bye week in Foxboro.