‘He’s a fighter’: How Mac Jones stored the Eagles on the ropes because the Patriots appeared to move for catastrophe

Patriots

“We all know that Mac is a canine and his mentality is all the time going to be to combat it doesn’t matter what. So we weren’t apprehensive after the decide.”

The Patriots appeared like they have been careening towards catastrophe from the outset of their season opener when Darius Slay intercepted a Mac Jones cross and ran it again 70 yards for a landing.

Ezekiel Elliott fumbled on the one play of New England’s following drive, and Philadelphia capitalized with a landing that put the Patriots in a 16-0 gap within the first quarter.

Jones and the Patriots simply might have folded after that, trailing by two scores early towards the defending NFC champion Eagles.

However, they didn’t. They gnashed their tooth, dug their cleats into the Gillette Stadium turf, and clawed their manner again into the sport.

The Patriots had a pair of probabilities to win the sport within the fourth quarter with the ball of their palms as they trailed by 5 factors. However, they fell simply wanting what would have been a powerful upset within the “Thank You Tom (Brady)” sport and began off the season with a 25-20 loss.

“Not good by me,” Jones informed reporters after the sport. “They gave me the ball twice to win the sport and I couldn’t do it, so I simply have to return and watch and see what I’ve to do higher. However, as a quarterback, that hurts to have an opportunity to win the sport twice and also you cant do it. So that you’ve received to be taught from it. You solely get so many alternatives within the NFL to do this and I positively really feel like I let the crew down.”

Jones ended up going 35 for 54 on passing makes an attempt for 316 yards and three touchdowns. The pick-six was his solely turnover. He led the Patriots to 14 unanswered factors within the second quarter, which sliced Philadelphia’s result in two heading into halftime.

The third-year quarterback’s efficiency wasn’t the explanation why the Patriots misplaced, linebacker Matthew Judon stated. Reasonably, Jones performed a giant half in preserving the Patriots within the sport.

“I feel as a quarterback that’s form of how you need to come up right here and speak to (the media), however we don’t care about that,” Judon stated. “Mac went on the market and performed his butt off. It was unlucky he received a few dangerous calls, a few penalties right here and there. However, we will’t put that loss on Mac. He performed his butt off.”

Whereas they didn’t get the win, the Patriots confirmed that they’ll preserve their cool below strain. They have been aggressive till the very finish towards among the finest groups within the league, largely due to the way in which Jones bounced again after the early mistake.

“He’s a fighter,” Phillips stated. “The sport goes to go like that some occasions. We’d hand over a couple of touchdowns and so they might need to crawl again, so it simply is what it’s. We’re all the time serving to one another. We all know that Mac is a canine, and his mentality is all the time going to be to combat it doesn’t matter what. So we weren’t apprehensive after the decide.”

Jones unfold the ball round, hitting six totally different Patriots for 4 catches or extra. He threw a pair of landing passes to Kendrick Bourne and one other one to Hunter Henry. Henry had a spectacular one-handed catch on fourth-and-8 to maintain a vital drive alive.

The Patriots had their share of shortcomings. New England received known as for a delay of sport penalty that pressured the Patriots right into a fourth-and-17 state of affairs on their second-to-last drive. Jones was unable to finish a fourth-down cross to Henry, stopping the nine-play, 36-yard drive in its tracks.

On the ultimate drive, Kayshon Boutte appeared to make a 12-yard catch on the Patriots closing drive that may have transformed a fourth-and-11 and put the Patriots on the Eagles’ 8-yard line. The play was dominated as an incomplete cross as Boutte didn’t have each ft in-bounds.

However nonetheless, the Patriots have been proper there.

A number of Patriots stated after the sport that they received’t settle for ethical victories. However, enjoying the Eagles all the way down to the wire with a banged-up offensive line and a comeback effort that had the Tremendous Bowl runner-ups on the ropes is a promising begin to the season.

“It’s resilience proper? And that’s all of us,” stated offensive deal with Calvin Anderson. “All of us have to have the ability to bounce again from any setback in a sport. If you happen to’re going to win huge video games, you’ve received to have the ability to do this. Fortunately, we’ve received nice management up entrance, guys that may let you know hey it’s subsequent play even whenever you get down. So, I’m appreciative of being round guys like that.”