Bill Belichick wanted to see how things went in practice Wednesday before naming a starting quarterback for the New England Patriots’ Week 8 matchup with the New York Jets.
Evidently, they went well for Mac Jones.
Jones took roughly 90% of the first-team reps in practice — a non-padded, low-intensity walkthrough — and will start Sunday at MetLife Stadium, according to a report from ESPN’s Field Yates.
After missing three games with a high ankle sprain, Jones played the first three series of Monday night’s 33-14 loss to the Chicago Bears before giving way to rookie backup Bailey Zappe. He went 3-for-6 for 13 yards with an interception in his limited action, but Belichick said his removal was part of a planned QB rotation, not the result of poor performance.
Belichick swatted away a series of quarterback-related questions during his Wednesday afternoon news conference, uttering some variation of “We’ll see how it goes today” 11 times in a 13-minute span. The head coach also repeatedly said the Patriots were “getting ready for the Jets,” who have ridden a strong defense to a surprising 5-2 start. The Patriots sit at 3-4, last place in the AFC East.
New England’s unorthodox two-QB plan against Chicago, coupled with Belichick’s refusal to say whether Jones would be the team’s starter when healthy, has fueled rampant speculation and created uncertainty, with even some Patriots players unaware entering last week’s game that Jones and Zappe both would play.
Asked Wednesday whether he felt the need to address the team about the quarterback situation, Belichick replied: “Yeah, we’ll deal with it.”
Belichick is scheduled to speak with reporters again before Thursday’s practice.
