For a second straight week the New England Patriots faced one of the worst scoring defenses in the NFL, and for a second straight week, they failed to score more than 17 points in a 10-6 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
There’s no need in worrying if the Patriots could tank enough losses to get a top-three pick in the 2024 NFL draft because they’re already there. Per Tankathon, if the season ended today, the Patriots would hold the No. 3 overall pick of the draft.
Yikes.
The biggest headline coming out of the game will undoubtedly be the benching of quarterback Mac Jones. This wasn’t a situation where the Patriots were getting blown out, and Jones was pulled from a chance to compile garbage stats, either.
The game was on the line with it being the final drive for the Patriots, and coach Bill Belichick decided to pull his starting quarterback for backup Bailey Zappe.
It was a chance for Zappe to shake things up and earn himself more playing time in future games. Yet, he stepped right up and showed why the Patriots have been so reluctant to pull Jones from the starting position.
Zappe isn’t good enough.
But Jones also isn’t good enough. No one is good enough for the Patriots. Owner Robert Kraft looked dejected when watching the game from the stands.
The only saving grace was the Patriots defense, which continued to overcome the injury bug by holding the Colts’ seventh-ranked scoring offense to only 10 points. But their incredible effort was completely negated by bad quarterback play from Jones, who finished with a paltry 170 passing yards and one interception.
There were at least two plays that should have been touchdown passes in the back of the end zone, but Jones missed both of them, including one ending in a backbreaking interception in the red zone late in the fourth quarter.
Fire Mac Jones into the sun. This is the worst throw of his career pic.twitter.com/0upOL2qNLn
— Ben Brown 🌻 (@BenBrownPL) November 12, 2023
The Patriots will have an extra week to sit on this loss with the bye week coming up.
Some big decisions are obviously coming in the offseason regarding the future of the team. However, given the way the team looked on Sunday, earlier changes in the bye week might not be out of the question.
