Bill Belichick Says Mac Jones Will Remain Patriots' QB1 After 34-0 Loss to Saints

Things have gone from bad to worse for Mac Jones over the past few weeks.

The New England Patriots signal-caller was once again benched in the second half of the team's 34-0 loss against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. It's the second consecutive game in which head coach Bill Belichick has subbed him out for Bailey Zappe, but Belichick isn't quite ready to completely abandon Jones.

"Yeah, there's a lot of problems," Belichick said postgame. "It certainly wasn't all on him."

It was New England's second-consecutive 30-plus point loss of the season, following an ugly performance in Dallas last weekend. And Jones was right at the heart of his squad's struggles all afternoon long.

The third-year man completed just 12 passes for 110 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. He also took two sacks en route to a rating of 30.5, his lowest mark of the season.

Sunday was far and away the roughest outing of his relatively young career.

"Everyone's frustrated, of course we're frustrated," Jones said. "At the end of the day, you have to turn that into action."

In very limited time against the Saints, Zappe completed three passes for 22 yards.

Now, the second-year signal caller out of Western Kentucky did get some starting experience as a rookie while Jones was out with an injury last season and performed admirably in the process.

He went 2-0 as a starter in 2022, throwing for 781 yards to go along with five touchdowns and three interceptions.

So, it wouldn't be a totally wild idea if Belichick decided to make the change a bit more permanent.

It is true what the legendary coach said, however. The Patriots' problems go beyond Jones' play.

Its defense, which looked loaded at the beginning of the season, now finds itself without Matthew Judon and Christian Gonzalez, who have both been lost to injury. The unit gave up 304 yards of total offense to the Saints, not exactly the league's most explosive team.

"It was a poor performance here today, plain and simple," Belichick said. "We've got to start over and find a way to get back on track."