FOXBOROUGH — Thirty-eight starts into his NFL career, and it happened for Mac Jones.
Signature moment. Game-winning drive. Signature win.
Sure, it came for a Patriots team that is 2-5 and entered as one of the worst teams in the league. And it came against a Bills team that is struggling on offense and with defensive injuries.
But none of that matters. Certainly won't to Jones. And, more importantly, to his teammates. A win like that, trailing late for the first time all game thanks to a critical fumble by Kendrick Bourne when everyone in the stadium figured Jones and the Patriots offense would come up short for seemingly the 23rd time since you-know-who departed, is good for everyone's soul.
“It feels good. It feels good. Going home, having a beer and sitting outside is going to feel real good," said David Andrews. "You play to win the games, and we’ve had a lot of success in my career. I think you try not to take for granted winning football games in the NFL. It’s a hard thing. I thought Mac did a great job today, making the right decisions all day, and then obviously a big drive at the end, playing his best football when it mattered. That’s what we need.”
This wasn't the best version of Jones in this game — 83.3% completions, 272 yards, 2 TDs, 126.7 rating — but it was certainly enough. He got a big assist from Bill O'Brien who, after the second half against the Raiders, started to find his groove as a gameplanner and playcaller in this one. The Patriots used much more motion than they have in the past, and his quick, rhythmic passing game fit Jones perfectly. That helped the protection as well, which got a health boost as well with Cole Strange back at left guard, and Mike Onwenu pushed out to right tackle.
Society has become one of instant gratification, but football doesn't work that way. O'Brien was not going to instantly come in and make everything better, especially not with a tough opening schedule and a series of injuries that laid to waste any well-laid plans entering training camp.
And coordinators and quarterbacks don't instantly mesh. They need to go through trials by fire and tribulations under stress to figure out how things would work. Rookies like Pop Douglas (also missed time with injury) need to be ramped up.
Sure, it looked damn ugly on offense for six games — no one expected that. And Jones was at the center of all that.
But Sunday represented a big step for the offense and Jones.
“I don’t think a lot of the talk and stuff that happens with him is fair, honestly," said Mike Gesicki, who caught the game-winning toss. "I think he’s done an unbelievable job kind of blocking all of that out, and he’s done an unbelievable job internally leading us throughout all that adversity. Today, back against the wall, you hear all the talk about us with a chance to win the game and we can’t close and all that stuff, and today, we had a chance, and he stood in there and delivered play after play after play. Ultimately, we won the game off several great plays, but ultimately off a great ball by him. So, I’m really happy for him and just excited for this to ultimately propel us forward.”
Before Sunday, Jones' only fourth-quarter comeback and game-winning drive happened Oct. 10, 2021 against the woeful Houston Texans. Since then, there have a whole lot of wouldas-couldas-shouldas that led many to question whether Jones would ever get it done, even though Jones did his part in some of those games.
He answered all the questions with a virtuoso fourth quarter and two touchdown drives. In the final stanza, Jones was 11 of 13 for 127 yards and two touchdowns. Jones accounted for 88 percent of the Patriots' yards to close out rival Buffalo, and the Patriots needed all of them.
Leading 16-10 with 13:43 to play, Jones placed a perfect pass to Pharoah Brown for 26 yards. Later after a delay of game penalty looked to be the start of New England imploding as usual, Jones dropped in a 19-yard pass to Douglas. Then on 2nd-and-goal, Jones showed off why the Patriots drafted him 15th overall: he changed the routes twice, stood in and took a massive hit and delivered a perfect pass to the outside to Kendrick Bourne, which allowed him to turn the corner and score.
Of course, Josh Allen and the Bills came back like they always do with a quick score to cut the lead to five points. And the entire stadium figured the end was near when Bourne fumbled, the Bills scored and got the two-point conversion to take a 25-22 lead with 1:58 left.
What was going to be the cause of death this time? Penalties? Sacks? Strip-sack? Jones throwing across his body for a pick-six? You know you were wondering. Everyone was.
That was only reinforced when a flag came out as Rhamondre Stevenson rumbled for 34 yards. But, alas, it was picked up as it appeared David Andrews was at least bordering the legal area beyond the line of scrimmage.
On third-and-8, Jones threaded the needle to Hunter Henry for 14 yards. A beauty touch pass to Stevenson picked up 10 to the Buffalo 7.
With 18 seconds left, Jones was kicking himself throwing too tall for the diminutive Douglas in the end zone. You figured that was it. They'll probably only get a field goal, and then Allen will break your heart in overtime.
But then the 6-6 Gesicki came in for 5-8 Douglas and they basically ran the same play — Y shake. CB Taron Johnson at 5-11 was no match as Gesicki separated just enough inside and, this time, Jones' high-point pass was perfect.
Elation.
Relief.
A freaking win.
(Adam Richins for BSJ)
"It was a wonderful feeling watching them drive the ball down and we were all on the sidelines antsy," said Deatrich Wise. "Once they crossed the goal line with the pads, we were all just dancing around, we were all excited. This is one of those wonderful feelings because you put in all the hard work during the week.”
We have no idea whether this is going to mean a hill of beans in the grand scheme of this Patriots' season, or Jones' career. The Patriots could go back to being horrible next week against the Dolphins in their personal Fifth Circle of Hell at Hard Rock Stadium.
But at least now, the Patriots and Jones have a chance to do something. Every quarterback needs to have their moment. Not only for their own belief, but for their teammates. As I've written previously, Aaron Rodgers started his career 10-14 and then he had his Drive against the Cowboys and never looked back. When a quarterback delivers a win like Sunday, their teammates start to look at them a little differently, they start to believe, and that can make all the difference when it comes to winning and losing tight games.
"It was big, big time," said Davon Godchaux. "Those guys, Buffalo got up late in the second half, and the offense bailed us out. Great catch by Mike Gesicki. My guy Pop [Demario Douglas] played unbelievable. Offensive line played unbelievable, shoutout to the offense, I don’t think we give them enough credit. Defense, we started fast. We always want to start fast. I think that’s credit to us for starting fast. Towards the end, we kind of gave up a little bit, but shoutout to the offense. They were unbelievable.”
Mac finally had his moment. He earned it. Now let's see what he can do with it.
"Half of it’s just belief. And the other half is execution," Jones said. "You’ve got to continue to grow on that. And I think when you look at the other (failed comebacks), when you look back, it’s hard because you wish you had more. I’m going to look at the positive and grow on this and do it every time I get it."