The days of Mac Jones and Bill Belichick in New England are numbered

Germany should have answered a lot of questions for the Patriots and owner Robert Kraft once and for all. In a game that Robert Kraft said in a pre-game interview was very important for the New England franchise, the Patriots laid yet another egg. 

The game was a nationally-televised game. It was played in Germany where Kraft has invested a lot of time and effort establishing a foothold ever since German-born Sebastian Vollmer was drafted in 2009. After the Patriots couldn’t find the end zone against the Indianapolis Colts in a 10-6 loss, I think Germans will be taking a closer look at other teams like the Kansas City Chiefs.

Everybody has been talking about Mac Jones and his absolutely horrendous throw for an interception late in the fourth quarter with the Patriots in the red zone on the verge of scoring a go-ahead touchdown. Of all of Mac Jones’ bad throws he’s made in his career, that may have been his worst. That’s saying a lot. All he had to do was set his feet and lob a pass to the back of the end zone where Mike Gesicki had his defender easily beat. Instead, Jones, inexplicably, threw off his back foot and under-threw his receiver by a good ten yards.

But I choose to focus on what should have been an innocuous special teams play early in the second quarter. The Colts were leading 7-3 and the Patriots’ defense had just held Indianapolis to a 3-and-out at their own 13 yard line. The Patriots were looking at some good field position following the punt – most likely at around midfield.

Viewers were shocked to see the Colts’ punter punt the ball easily enough, but where was the returner? There was none! When do you ever see that except in the fourth quarter when a team is desperate? 

Belichick tried to explain after the game that the Patriots had run the same punt block successfully against the Colts the last time they played. The guy has lost his marbles. Just because you successfully complete an onside kick one time, it does not mean you should onside kick every time.

The punt wound up rolling to a stop 69 yards past the line of scrimmage. Instead of starting with the ball at around midfield, the inept Patriots offense had to start at their own 18. Just a reminder – the defense had stopped the Colts on the opposite end of the field at the Indy 13-yard line.

The decision to go for an all out punt block in that situation is an absolute diss by Belichick to the offense and Mac Jones.He believed the best chance to score was a one in a hundred chance at blocking a punt. It was reminiscent of the game in 2009 against the same Indianapolis Colts when Belichick decided to go for it on 4th-and-2 on their own 28-yard line in a tightly contested game. The belief then was that Belichick didn’t have confidence in his defense being able to stop Peyton Manning. This time it was the opposite scenario. Belichick had no confidence in his offense that he, as GM, had assembled.

As further evidence of Belichick doubting his quarterback’s abilities, with the ball on their own 47 with two seconds left before halftime, Belichick chose against throwing a Hail Mary. Instead, Jones threw a quick short swing pass to Demario Douglas who ran for 30 yards before running into a dead end.

When asked after the game why they chose not to go for the Hail Mary, Jones seemed bitter as he replied, “No clue. It was two seconds left and we needed sixty yards, so, I don’t know.” 

It wouldn’t be the first time that Belichick questioned his quarterback’s arm strength. After a game against the Raiders in December of 2022, Belichick was asked why he chose not to go for a Hail Mary from their own 45-yard line at the end of the game, “We couldn’t throw it that far” was his response. 

It is ridiculous if an NFL quarterback can not throw the ball sixty yards. And I don’t believe that Jones cannot throw the ball sixty yards. Belichick just has some kind of problem with him.

So what’s next? Mac Jones is a shattered man. He was replaced by Bailey Zappe after his inexplicable interception at the end of the game. Zappe proceeded to throw an interception into a triple team after one of those tricky fake spike plays that fooled no one.

Jones should not take another snap this year. Jones was reportedly seen on his way to taking X-rays on his ribs after the game. I’m not buying it. The gesture had multiple benefits. It could be used as an excuse for Jones’ poor performance or it could be used as an excuse to not start Jones next week – not that Belichick needs an excuse. Belichick may even use it as an excuse to IR Jones for the rest of the year.

Either way, Jones nor Zappe should be starting for the Patriots anymore. We’ve seen enough from both of them. That leaves Will Grier and, yes, Malik Cunningham. What do the Patriots have to lose? The season has been unsalvageable for weeks now. They know what they have with Jones and Zappe and it is not good.  Let’s find out what Will Grier and Cunningham can do at the NFL level. I don’t see any argument against it.