The New England Patriots have their first signature win of the 2021 NFL season.
After defeating only the lowly Houston Texans and New York Jets during the first seven weeks, the Patriots went on the road Sunday and handed Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers a 27-24 loss at SoFi Stadium.
While New England’s defense and special teams won the day, quarterback Mac Jones came through in the fourth quarter. Here are four thoughts on Jones’ performance in Week 8:
— Overall, this was not Jones’ best day. In fact, it might have been his most uneven outing to date. He completed a career-worst 51.4% of his passes (18 of 35), finished with his second-lowest passing yardage total (218) and did not throw a touchdown pass for the first time since Week 2.
But when the Patriots needed a prolonged, productive drive to put the game away, the rookie delivered.
With New England up seven after an Adrian Phillips pick-six and a successful two-point conversion, Jones led an 11-play, 55-yard march that drained 6:56 off the clock. He went 4-for-4 for 42 yards on the drive, including a quick strike to Jakobi Meyers on third-and-1 and 16- and 15-yard completions to Meyers and N’Keal Harry, both on second-and-9. Jones also moved the chains himself with a QB sneak on third-and-short.
Self-inflicted errors — including a Kendrick Bourne fumble and two holding penalties — hamstrung the Patriots’ offense earlier in the second half, but Jones and his weapons played smart football on this final drive. Meyers, Nelson Agholor and Damien Harris all slid down in bounds to keep the clock running, forcing LA to burn all three of its timeouts.
The Patriots wound up settling for a Nick Folk field goal — his fourth of the game — but that provided the necessary cushion for New England. The Chargers scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive but could not recover an onside kick with 40 seconds remaining.
One final Jones kneeldown closed out the Patriots’ first win over a playoff-caliber opponent in Jones’ debut season. They now sit at 4-4 and will carry a two-game winning streak into next Sunday’s matchup with Stephon Gilmore and the Carolina Panthers.
Jones’ counterpart, Herbert, again struggled against New England’s defense. In two games against the Patriots, the 2019 Offensive Rookie of the Year has posted the worst and second-worst passer rating and worst and second-worst completion percentage of his young career. Two of his four multi-interception games have come against the Patriots.
Phillips, a former Charger, picked off Herbert twice on Sunday.
— Jones opened with completions on six of his first nine passes — including a 14-yarder to Bourne on third down, a 44-yard bomb to Agholor and a 33-yarder to Hunter Henry off play-action — but the rest of the first half was a struggle for the Patriots rookie.
Jones attempted an additional 13 passes before halftime and completed just two of them. He often missed high or long, with ESPN Stats & Info crediting him with eight first-half overthrows — more than he recorded in the Patriots’ first seven games combined.
After scoring a touchdown on their opening possession for the fourth consecutive week, the Patriots’ Jones-led offense went punt, turnover on downs, field goal, punt, field goal on its other five first-half possessions. They also struggled to run the ball during this span despite LA boasting the NFL’s 32nd-ranked run defense.
The Patriots trailed by just one at the half, though. That was thanks to their defense, which allowed two early big plays (41-yard completion to Keenan Allen, 75-yard run by Justin Jackson) but settled down thereafter. The Chargers’ final three drives of the first half resulted in two three-and-outs and an interception. They then went punt, field goal, interception, punt after halftime before their too-little-too-late touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter.
— The aforementioned turnover on downs came after a series of questionable play calls.
Facing first-and-goal from the 4-yard line after Jones’ 33-yard completion to Henry, the Patriots — who, again, were facing the NFL’s worst run defense — threw the ball three times in four plays. All three fell incomplete.
On fourth-and-goal, Jones attempted a goal-line fade to Meyers that sailed out of the wideout’s reach.
On the preceding third down, the Patriots tried to catch the Chargers off guard by sending out their jumbo package and calling a play-action pass to Henry. An LA defender initially was flagged for defensive holding against the tight end, but that flag was picked up after officials determined Henry had initiated the block.
For fourth down, the Patriots used their three-receiver grouping with pass-catching running back Brandon Bolden. It’s fair to question why Damien Harris or Rhamondre Stevenson — two bruising short-yardage rushers — wasn’t in the game for that goal-line snap.
New England ran the ball much more effectively after halftime, finishing with 139 rushing yards.
— For the second time in four games, Jones was left bleeding from what appeared to be a cut on his chin.
Jones sustained his initial gash when he was hit in the facemask during the Patriots’ Week 5 win over the Houston Texans. It’s unclear how this one occurred.
The Chargers’ pass rush seemed to fluster Jones at times, but he was hit just four times and sacked once. He also was hit after the whistle on a play that was blown dead.
