FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — There is no do-over for the Patriots.
They botched the handling of their quarterbacks in recent weeks, Mac Jones in particular. Damage was done with each passing minute.
But with the New York Jets looming ahead, Bill Belichick had to find a way to get back on track Wednesday, pave an escape route and apply a sizable enough bandage to stop the bleeding from the problem that was festering.
And he did. For now.
Mac Jones will start Sunday against the Jets, sources confirmed to the Herald. So thankfully, there won’t be a week-filled with suspense, along with growing suspicions.
Let’s hope it stays that way. In the NFL, quarterback issues are the worst problem to have whether it’s for one week, or the entire season.
Until Wednesday, the Patriots had two quarterbacks who didn’t know which end was up, along with a roomful of players who didn’t know who was leading the offense.
Thankfully, Belichick has applied a temporary fix at the very least. But he also needs to make it clear, whether publicly or inside the room, that he’s standing by Jones for the remainder of the season.
Temporary won’t cut it in the locker room. Going day-to-day and week-to-week doesn’t work. Either Jones is the man for now and the immediate future, or he’s not. There’s really no time to waste when it comes to backing the top guy.
The Patriots face a make-or-break type of game on Sunday. If they expect to go anywhere this season, or at least give themselves a shot, they have to beat a much-improved Jets team at MetLife Stadium.
At this stage, having doubt at the most important position would have been catastrophic. As legendary offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia opined Wednesday during an appearance on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show,” it was time for Belichick to fish or cut bait on the quarterbacks.
“I think it’s a tough situation right now. I would like to see them say, ‘Hey, this guy is starting, and we’re playing (the Jets), and this is how we’re going.’ I don’t think this is a tryout time,” Scarnecchia said. “They’ve got a big game against the Jets on Sunday. They need to win that game … so let’s just make a decision, ride it, and ride it hard.”
Couldn’t agree more.
While Belichick might love a good mystery, and might love keeping everyone in suspense over which quarterback is going to play, or both, as was the case Monday night, he needed to stop fanning the flames.
He needed to extinguish the inferno he largely set in motion before it was too late and the season went completely down the drain.
Belichick might believe he’s giving the opponent extra work by not revealing his starter, but it was bordering on ridiculous to keep hearing the “we’ll see what happens” line trotted out.
Because that strategy was doing more harm than good.
Jones and Bailey Zappe were suffering in their own way, and by extension, so was the team, which was blown out by the Bears.
With no acknowledged No. 1, the impression was that both quarterbacks were still competing for the job, although Belichick insisted Wednesday that wasn’t the case.
Fine, but there had to be some reason Belichick was holding back on committing to Jones.
And that was the crux of the problem.
Maybe the injury forced all the mystery, and the Monday night debacle was simply Belichick’s way of getting Jones some work in the lead up to the more important game against the Jets.
That said, Belichick could have stopped all of the noise in its tracks weeks ago by just saying that Mac was his starter whenever he was healthy and ready to play.
End of story.
Instead, a wall of uncertainty was created. There was doubt cast about Belichick’s trust in Jones, and that basically left the quarterback position in disarray.
If Belichick’s intention was to try and push Jones with a little competition from Zappe to make him better when he returned, that horse left the barn Monday night.
Yanking Jones after just three series, with a pick being his last play, merely set the table for more questions and more headaches.
So it behooved Belichick to clean up the mess.
The season depended on it. The quarterbacks needed clarity both for themselves, and for a locker room which was forced to take sides.
Before the season began, Belichick made it very clear where the buck stopped. He said he took “responsibility for everything that happens on the field.”
Well, he desperately needed to fix what was broke.
Now that he has, it’s time for Jones to respond. It’s time for him to get comfortable in the pocket, clean up the turnovers, grow with the offense and become the quarterback that was envisioned when he was taken 15th overall in the NFL draft last year.
“We have a plan. For me right now, that’s to become a better quarterback individually and a better player and I’m doing everything I can to do that,” Jones said Wednesday. “I just want to prove that every day, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Jones also provided a bigger picture outlook for the group which was spot on.
“I want this to be about the great offense that we’re trying to form,” he said. “I think we’re making good strides. We want to be better, we all know that. We want to score more points, we want to do things better.”
Having a recognized starting quarterback is definitely a good place to start.
