FOXBORO, Mass. — After he watched his pass bounce off JuJu Smith-Schuster’s hands and straight to a waiting Washington defender, Mac Jones crouched down and placed both hands on his helmet, a mix of frustration and resignation on his face.
The interception, with 38 seconds remaining, closed the door on a Patriots comeback bid Sunday at Gillette Stadium. A catch by Smith-Schuster, who’d just converted a fourth down moments earlier, would have put New England in range for a tying field goal.
Instead, the Commanders kneeled out the clock to lock down a 20-17 road victory. It’s been that kind of season for the 2-7 Patriots — and especially for their beleaguered, Jones-led offense.
The Patriots have played nine games and scored 20-plus points in just two of them. On Sunday, they were playing without their top receiver (Kendrick Bourne), another starting wideout (DeVante Parker) and their starting left guard (Trent Brown).
Their diminished O-line held up well against a Commanders defense that traded away its top two pass rushers (Chase Young and Montez Sweat) earlier in the week, as Washington notched just one quarterback hit and had its lone sack wiped out by a ticky-tack roughing the passer penalty.
But the talent deficiency at receiver showed, just like it did even when that group was fully healthy. Jalen Reagor and Tyquan Thornton were non-factors in the passing game, combining for two catches on 10 targets for 19 yards. Smith-Schuster showed signs of life for the first time this season (six catches, 51 yards) but his hands betrayed him at the most important moment.
Demario Douglas is an exciting player with a bright future, but his stat line (five catches, 55 yards) was unspectacular. Tight end Mike Gesicki, whom head coach Bill Belichick called the team’s “fifth receiver” after the game, was held without a catch on one target.
Jones was asked after the game whether it’s difficult to remain confident in the Patriots’ offensive system when positive results have been so hard to come by. His response was telling.
“Yeah, it’s tough,” Jones said. “I think the biggest thing is remaining confident in yourself. When you do everything you can every day, you should have no regrets. I have no regrets. I do need to do things better, but I’m always going to work hard and put in the hours.
“That’s all I can do, right? Motivate people around me to do it, as well. I’m always going to be the same person. Obviously, the results aren’t there right now. It stinks. There’s no excuses.”
Sunday’s game was a mixed bag for Jones, who threw a perfectly placed touchdown pass to Hunter Henry but had some costly downfield misses. He threw a pass out of an open Thornton’s reach on the Patriots’ first third down of the game and underthrew a streaking Rhamondre Stevenson to stall a fourth-quarter drive. Jones also nearly tossed a red-zone interception to rookie cornerback Emmanuel Forbes, whom the QB surprisingly acknowledged the Patriots were trying to target. Reagor broke up the pass to prevent a turnover.
So, yes, there were missed opportunities for New England’s third-year signal-callers. But he again spent most of the game throwing into tight windows with little margin for error, which has been an issue for the Patriots’ offense all season.
ESPN Analytic’s “Open” metric tracks pass-catchers’ ability to separate from defenders. There were 111 qualified wideouts and tight ends entering Week 9, and Gesicki, Douglas, Parker and Henry all ranked 90th or worse. Smith-Schuster, who did not have enough targets to qualify, was dead last in the previous week’s rankings.
Bourne was much higher at No. 36, but he’s out for the rest of the season after tearing his ACL last week in Miami. Roster talent, execution and scheme all are to blame for the rest of the rest of the group lagging behind, and this inability to reliably get open is a major factor in the Patriots’ persistent third-down struggles.
New England went 3-for-12 on third down against Washington after going 1-for-9 in last week’s loss to the Dolphins.
Jones offered another notable quote when asked about other NFL quarterbacks having “bigger windows” to throw into, and his margin for error being “almost too fine” because of what he has to work with. He called that a “great point.”
“I think, like I talked about, there is no excuses,” said Jones, who went 24-for-44 for 220 yards and one touchdown with one interception in the loss. “It’s hard to compare to other people, other teams. We have a standard here. At the end of the day, we need to meet that standard and execute as best we can for me as a quarterback and all that stuff.
“That’s a great point, but at the same time we’re always going to focus on us and what we can do better and the things we need to improve, what I need to improve and all that stuff. But, yeah, that’s a good question.”
Jones did not throw any of his teammates under the bus, and he even praised Smith-Schuster just minutes after the latter’s mistake lost his team the game. And, again, Jones himself was far from perfect Sunday.
But as New England continues to search in vain for offensive consistency, Jones’ patience seems to be wearing thin.
