Did Patriots Players Quit On Mac Jones? NFL Insider Speculates

After making a significant change ahead of Week 13, the Patriots started to look like a different team.

New England finally pulled the plug on Mac Jones after its Week 12 road loss to the New York Giants dropped its record to 2-9 on the season. While Bailey Zappe didn't come out of the gate firing after replacing Jones, the Patriots offense certainly has looked better with the sophomore signal-caller under center. New England currently is 2-2 this season in games Zappe started, including Sunday's impressive road win over a Denver Broncos team that was fighting for its playoff life.

So, what gives? Zappe isn't that much better than Jones, and if the Patriots actually believed in the 2022 fourth-rounder as a legitimate starter, they wouldn't have released him before the start of the season. Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer, for one, can't help but think Jones' supporting cast might have taken its foot off the gas as the 2021 first-rounder continued to rack up discouraging outings.

"The Patriots most certainly haven't quit on Bill Belichick. But given the way Bailey Zappe has sparked the offense, it's certainly fair to wonder whether the players had given up on Mac Jones," Breer wrote in a column published Tuesday. "Jones' string of bleep-ups in games coincided with similar plays showing up in practice. And while Zappe's no world-beater, the players at least know what to expect when he's in there. It really showed in Sunday night's win in Denver, particularly on the third-and-3, back-shoulder throw to DeVante Parker that put the Patriots' game-winning drive in motion with less than a minute left."

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It's anyone's guess if Patriots players actually quit on Jones, who was set up to fail in Foxboro, Mass. after his promising rookie season. But when you consider the amount of damage that's been done since the start of the 2022 campaign, it feels like a divorce between Jones and the Patriots is in the best interest of both sides.

As such, Jones very well could spend his last two games in a New England uniform holding a clipboard.