The Patriots fell short against the Buccaneers in Tom Brady‘s return to Gillette Stadium on Sunday night, but there were things to like about the way they played in the 19-17 loss.
One of them was the performance of quarterback Mac Jones. Jones completed 19 straight passes at one point in the game and finished the night 31-of-40 for 275 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
That outing was crucial on a night when the Patriots could not run the ball and it provided hope that Jones’ future will be bright in New England. The rookie lamented his turnover and said the Patriots “don’t really do moral victories,” but admitted there were positive steps for the offense over the course of the evening.
“Yeah, I do. I think we moved in the right direction,” Jones said. “You know, we made plays and played hard the whole game and I turned the ball over. That’s one of the problems, you know, turnovers can kill you, and you know if you turn the ball over — If you don’t turn the ball over, you have a 90-something percent chance to win, and it’s just statistics but I have thought we moved the ball, passing well and the run game needs to improve and we’ll come up with ways to do that. I thought everyone fought really hard. It sucks we lost but yeah, look at it, like you said, that we’re making some progress.”
The atmosphere will be a lot less emotionally charged when Jones and the Patriots try to snap their two-game losing streak in Houston next weekend.
Mac Jones: We don’t really do moral victories originally appeared on Pro Football Talk