Mac Jones says Patriots won't fall apart after brutal loss to Raiders
BOSTON -- Just about everything that could go wrong did indeed go wrong for the New England Patriots on Sunday afternoon. And the majority of it was their own undoing.
There was another horrendous red zone possession that didn't end with the Patriots scoring a touchdown. The Raiders blocked a punt after a pair of Patriots special teamers were too busy having a pre-snap chat, which led directly to a Las Vegas touchdown before halftime. And then there was the final panic play that saw the Patriots lose in a rather hilarious and embarrassing fashion.
Add it all up and it equals a grisly 30-24 loss to drop the Patriots to 7-7 on the season and out of the AFC playoff picture. It's the kind of devastating defeat that could easily sink a team, because it's a pretty good indication that the team isn't very good to begin with.
The Patriots' postseason hopes are now hanging by a thread, and the team will essentially have to win its remaining three games to have any shot at participating in playoff football. With home games against the Bengals and the Dolphins, followed by a Week 18 meeting with the Bills in Buffalo, winning out would have been a tough task for a good team. For this Patriots team, it seems nearly impossible.
But the Patriots aren't giving up hope. They may seem disjointed as a whole and all signs point to the players having zero faith in their coaches, but the group hasn't lost faith that an epic turnaround is theirs for the taking.
Mac Jones -- who could only watch the Raiders score the game-winning touchdown on Sunday after he was planted into the ground by Chandler Jones -- still believes this team can come together and win some important football games.
"I feel like we have a very mature group of people. We're all playing for each other, which is the most important part," Jones said during his Monday appearance on WEEI. "You have to stick to the process and the wins will come. That's great advice from [team captain Matthew] Slater; just come together.
"There's a lot of things we could fall apart from but we're not going to do that," Jones added. "We're going to come together and finish as strong as we can. That starts with this week."
You could argue that the Patriots fell apart long ago, but at least Jones is trying to keep things positive. The quarterback said that the most important thing at this point is how the team bounces back from Sunday's embarrassing defeat. If they don't believe in themselves, they aren't going anywhere -- especially to the postseason.
"I think it's a mentality. It's all part of your mental game," he said. "Whether you win or lose, how do you come out the next week? Some weeks it's harder to do than others, but this one especially. Just flip the switch and just roll through."
Jones is looking to bounce back from one of the worst games of his career. He completed just 42 percent of his passes -- his lowest completion rate as an NFL quarterback -- and finished with only 112 passing yards in Las Vegas.
The Patriots will now host a Bengals team that has won six straight and eight of their last nine games.
Tune in to Patriots-Bengals on WBZ-TV -- the television home of the New England Patriots. Coverage begins Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m. on TV38 with Patriots 1st Down, and continues Friday night on WBZ-TV at 7 p.m. with Patriots All Access. Coverage kicks off Saturday morning at 11:30 a.m. with Patriots GameDay, the Pats host the Bengals at 1 p.m., and after the game stay tuned for Patriots 5th Quarter -- all on WBZ-TV!
