FOXBORO, Mass. — On to Tom Brady? Not just yet.
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Mac Jones weren’t ready to speak about next weekend’s blockbuster matchup with Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after Sunday’s 28-13 loss to the New Orleans Saints at Gillette Stadium.
“Obviously, they’re a good team,” Belichick said when asked about the Buccaneers in his postgame news conference. “Right now, we’re just focused on New Orleans. Look at the film, make the corrections on that, then we’ll move on.”
Jones had even less to share about Brady and the Bucs. Here’s how the rookie QB responded to a postgame question about his Patriots predecessor:
Q: Taking the cue on flipping the page, this happens fast. You’ll make the corrections and then turn the page. Along those lines, have you ever had any contact with Tom Brady, and what are your thoughts on the Buccaneers coming to town as you flip that page?
“I think we’re just going to focus on learning from the tape. I think that’s most important. It definitely stinks to lose, but you can learn from it, and it definitely eats away at you when you lose, but you’ve got to learn and move on. That’s what a lot of the older guys were telling me, just keep my head up. Obviously, no one likes to lose here, and the Patriots have done nothing but win for a long time. We’ve got to get back to that. It just happens through everyday grind, everyday work and not focusing on the results. Play each play. Play each day one day at a time. If we can do that, then I think we’ll see progress, and we’ll just go from there.”
Tampa Bay will be the toughest test yet for a Patriots team that’s dropped two of its first three games. New England started poorly Sunday (three-and-outs on its first three drives) and couldn’t recover, with Jones going 30-for-51 for 270 yards and one touchdown with three interceptions.
Jones’ touchdown pass — a 22-yarder to wide receiver Kendrick Bourne — cut New Orleans’ lead to eight points with 9:22 remaining in the fourth quarter, but the Saints responded with a seven-minute touchdown drive to put the game out of reach.
The Bucs, who also employ ex-Patriots pass-catchers Rob Gronkowski and Antonio Brown, won the Super Bowl last season and brought back nearly their entire roster. Their primetime matchup next Sunday will be Brady’s first game against his former team and his first at Gillette Stadium since the 2019 playoffs.
Safety Devin McCourty, who played 11 seasons with Brady in New England, said the 1-2 Patriots are “not good enough to get lost in headlines” about the superstar QB’s return.
“Obviously, we’ll have a huge test Sunday,” McCourty said. “We’ll have Tampa coming in here. … They’re going to be a good team that’s coming in here (as) defending champs. So all those things we talk about, you want to have a test to see if you can get it done, we’ll definitely get that Sunday night.”
