After losing 24-10 to the Bills on Thursday night, there were questions for Patriots players about offensive frustration.
The answer seemed obvious during the game. Quarterback Mac Jones could be seen on the Amazon broadcast yelling to “throw the fucking ball” on the sideline before adding that the “fucking running game sucks.”
Jones’ postgame press conference kicked off with a question about the video and what led to his outburst. Jones said it was tough watching the defense play well and “not being able to give them anything back” over the course of the evening.
“Obviously, just kind of let my emotions get to me but we’re kind of playing from behind,” Jones said. “What I said was about throwing it deeper in the short game. I got to execute that part better. But it’s the short game we kept going to, which is working. But I felt like we needed chunk plays. I shouted that out to kind of get everyone going. That’s emotional. That’s football. I’m passionate about this game. Obviously, you don’t want to let your emotions get the best of you. But yeah, I think that’s pretty much it. It wasn’t directed at anybody. Just emotion coming out and we kind of needed a spark.”
While Jones said his words weren’t directed at anyone in particular, he still faced more questions about the play calling before his time at the podium was up. He called it “definitely a coaching question” as to why the Patriots weren’t more aggressive earlier in the game while doing his best to keep it from being a referendum on offensive play caller Matt Patricia.
“Yeah, I think it was just me at that point in the game like, ‘all right, we’re playing catch-up here, let’s go for it, let’s be aggressive, let’s take those shots, just go down fighting.’ Matty P. was on the same page,” Jones said. “We kind of did it there at the end and moved it a little bit more. At the end of the day we have to execute the plays and do a better job. Sometimes you’re just so competitive, right? You want to go out there, ‘hey, let’s get a 50-yard gain.’ Sometimes it doesn’t happen, but we might as well go down trying, and try to make it work.”
There was no spark for the Patriots on Thursday night and the offense’s lack of one has been an issue throughout the season. At this point, it isn’t all that realistic to believe that things are going to change during the season and, whether the Patriots can find their way to the playoffs or not, that will set up an offseason with big questions about the path to take on offense in the future.