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Tag: Mac Jones

  • Christian McCaffrey’s offensive explosion, 49ers’ defense help stymie Falcons in win

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    Christian McCaffrey and the San Francisco 49ers’ defense had a night.

    The star running back had 201 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns as San Francisco topped the Atlanta Falcons, 20-10, on Sunday night.

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    San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) celebrates his touchdown against the Atlanta Falcons in the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025, in Santa Clara, California. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

    McCaffrey ran for 129 yards and scored two touchdowns on the ground. He also had seven catches for 72 yards. He got the scoring started in the second quarter when he helped put San Francisco on top 7-3. He then put the dagger into the hearts of Falcons fans when he was pulled and pushed into the end zone with 2:26 left in the game.

    It was that kind of frustrating night for the Falcons.

    Michael Penix Jr. was 21-of-38 for 241 yards and a touchdown. He was sacked twice and lost a fumble. But after two big wins against the Washington Commanders and Buffalo Bills, the Falcons’ offense was expected to have a little more firepower than what they showed against a depleted 49ers defense.

    Mykel Williams celebrates

    San Francisco 49ers defensive end Mykel Williams (98) celebrates in the first half of an NFL football game against the Atlanta Falcons, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025, in Santa Clara, California. (AP Photo/Kelley L Cox)

    BRONCOS ERASE 19-POINT DEFICIT TO SHOCK GIANTS BEHIND BO NIX’S 4 TOUCHDOWNS

    Atlanta went on nine drives during the night and were only able to attain 19 first downs. The team was 5-for-11 on third downs and 0-for-2 on fourth down conversion attempts.

    San Francisco had 324 yards of total offense against Atlanta’s 292.

    The 49ers were able to hold running back Bijan Robinson to 40 rushing yards on 14 carries. He had six catches for 52 yards and a touchdown. San Francisco quarterback Mac Jones was in for Brock Purdy. He had 152 passing yards and an interception.

    Bijan Robinson tries to avoid the defense

    Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson (7) runs near San Francisco 49ers safety Ji’Ayir Brown (27) in the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025, in Santa Clara, California. (AP Photo/Kelley L Cox)

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    Despite the injuries that have affected San Francisco since Week 1, the 49ers moved to 5-2 with the win. Atlanta fell to 3-3.

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    Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital.

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  • 49ers’ defense digs deep to thwart Rams’ overtime charge for win

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    The San Francisco 49ers took home a crucial 26-23 NFC West victory on Thursday night against the Los Angeles Rams in overtime.

    The 49ers defense came up huge to stop the Rams on fourth down in a pivotal moment in overtime to win the game. San Francisco also received an incredible performance from Mac Jones and the rest of the bruised and battered roster.

    Jones came in for Brock Purdy once again. He finished 33-of-49 with 342 passing yards and two touchdown passes as his resurgence continued. He started the game with a touchdown pass to Jake Tonges and followed it up with a touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey.

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    Mac Jones of the San Francisco 49ers reacts prior to a game against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium on October 02, 2025 in Inglewood, California. (Harry How/Getty Images)

    Los Angeles fought back from a 20-7 deficit in the third quarter. But were only able to tie the game thanks to a Matthew Stafford touchdown pass to Kyren Williams.

    The 49ers brought on kicker Eddy Pineiro for a 59-yard field goal attempt with 2:57 left in the game and he nailed it to take the lead.

    San Francisco got the ball back on a costly Rams fumble by Williams. The 49ers barely had any room to breathe and failed to get another first down to ice the game. Instead, the 49ers punted the ball away and gave the Rams decent field position.

    Williams was able to redeem himself to get the team into scoring position and allowed Joshua Karty to hit a game-tying 48-yard field goal to send the game into overtime.

    Davante Adams makes a catch

    Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Davante Adams (17) makes a catch against San Francisco 49ers  cornerback Renardo Green (0) during the first half at SoFi Stadium.  (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)

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    The 49ers moved up the field in the overtime period and got close enough for Pineiro to attempt a field goal. He hit the 41-yarder off the post and through the uprights with 5:51 to go in overtime.

    Then, it was Stafford’s time. On the second play, Stafford took the snap, spun around and launched the ball to Tutu Atwell for a 38-yard completion. The Rams got a fresh set of downs, but the 49ers defense locked in and forced a fourth-down attempt.

    Stafford handed the ball to Williams, but he was stopped short of the first down. The 49ers sealed the win.

    The veteran quarterback was 30-of-47 with 389 passing yards, and three touchdown passes. Puka Nacua had 10 catches for 85 yards and a touchdown. Williams had two touchdown caches on the night.

    Davis Allen makes the catch

    Los Angeles Rams tight end Davis Allen (87) makes a catch against San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dee Winters (53) during the second half at SoFi Stadium on Oct. 2, 2025.  (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)

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    The 49ers improved to 4-1 on the year. The Rams fell to 3-2.

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    Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital.

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  • The Eagles Free Agent Frenzy – Philadelphia Sports Nation

    The Eagles Free Agent Frenzy – Philadelphia Sports Nation

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    The Eagles had another grocery list of positions to fill this off-season.

    • Safety (or 2)
    • Linebackers (multiple)
    • Wide Receivers (multiple)
    • Running Back (or 2)
    • OL Depth

    They had already made a few moves to shore up some depth and competition in the roster. See more of the previous moves like Okwara and Kinnard here.

    If you had told me that the Eagles would cross off most of that list within the first week of free agency. I would assume most of the players were cheap acquisitions who might not even make the 53 man roster. But by end of day Thursday, the Eagles have started the off-season impressively.

    Let’s recap the moves they’ve made since Wednesday.

     

    Division Rival Betrayal

    The Eagles began the legal tampering period with some of the best news. And later finalized a 3-year, $37.75M deal with Saquon Barkley.

    This should be the 3rd year in a row Eagles end up with a 1,000+ yard player in the backfield. From Sanders, to Swift and now Barkley, who put up 962 rushing yards in only 14 games with the Giants this past season. While the Giants had started Tyrod Taylor, Daniel Jones and Tommy DeVito for equal amounts of the season. Saquon was in a similar situation to Christian McCaffrey, and should now make as much an impact on the Eagles as McCaffrey has to the 49ers offense.

    With only a $3,950,000 cap hit in 2024. Barely costing the team as they continued to spend their available cap space…

     

     

    Shopping From Both Sides Of MetLife

    There was one more stop the Eagles had to make while they were scooping players from MetLife Stadium.

    Signing Bryce Huff to a 3-year, $51M contract is a big price to pay for a defensive end who only played 42% of the defensive snaps. Compared to Sweat at $13.3M and Reddick at $15M, who both played over 70% of the Eagles defensive snaps. But with Huff putting up 10 Sacks last year for the Jets, this signing feels similar to when they signed Haason Reddick 2 seasons ago.

    So could this be a signing to replace one of the expiring Sweat or Reddick deals? Or utilizing the $30M jump in cap space to re-invest on the defensive line? We won’t know for now, but this Josh Sweat instagram comment might be a hint of what could still be to come.

     

    Addressing The OL

    Every year, there’s plenty of people online who scream into the void “The Eagles should use their Day 1 pick on an offensive lineman”

    I’m here to tell you they probably won’t do that, again.

    The Eagles had plenty of players depart from the Offensive Line. From Kelce’s retirement to no news on Sua Opeta or Jack Driscoll. But they’ve already gone and signed Darian Kinnard, and now Matt Hennessy.

    With 20 starts in Atlanta over the last 3 years, the former Temple Owl will make his way back to Philadelphia. Having played center and left guard in Atlanta. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Hennessy is viewed as a backup piece, but can bring competition for both Cam Jurgens and Tyler Steen during training camp.

    While this is only a 1 year deal, it probably keeps the Eagles from using a high round pick in the draft on the offensive line. If they’re truly building for the future they could use a 2nd or 3rd round pick, like they have in the last two drafts.

     

     

     

    Finally, Some Linebackers!

    There’s one position the Eagles desperately needed to invest in this off-season. And it took awhile for these moves to come through but they’ve made them.

    Adding 2 linebackers in the opening week of free agency is steps ahead of the linebackers the Eagles were acquiring last year.

    Nicholas Morrow was the only free agent move in March for a LB, and Zach Cunningham and Myles Jack weren’t signed until August.

    Devin White, a former Pro-Bowler and All-Pro had 83 tackles last year, including 2.5 Sacks and 2 Interceptions.

    While Zack Baun had 30 tackles, 2 Sacks and 1 Interception.

    Many may not approve of the White deal, but with plenty of time to make final roster decisions and the draft still a month away. White and Baun are better moves than the Eagles have seen at LB in some time. (We all remember Nate Gerry, right?)

     

    A Reunion In Philly

    Maybe this is what was missing from the Eagles secondary in 2023.

    C.J. Gardner-Johnson didn’t see plenty of playing time in Detroit, With a Week 2 injury that saw C.J. out until week 18. The reacquainted Safety still had 2 Interceptions across his 6 total games in Detroit, 3 in the regular season and 3 in the playoffs.

    Some wanted Justin Simmons to fill the void in the secondary left by Byard, but after some apologies, many are on board with this addition.

     

    The New WR3 In Town

    With Quez Watkins and Olamide Zaccheaus set to be free agents, the Eagles had to bring in multiple new faces for new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.

    And they did.

    While DeVante Parker’s separation numbers are the worst in the league. The Former Patriot still had 539 and 394 yards during his 2-year stint with Mac Jones at QB (And Matt Patricia at OC).

    Not bad numbers to fill in a WR3 role that Watkins and Zaccheaus didn’t come close to last year. Sure the offense struggled under Brian Johnson, there’s still bright things to expect with new faces on this team with new coordinators and schemes being put in place this off-season.

    There’s still 1 more open WR spot on the roster that could be addressed in the draft or re-signing Zaccheaus. And with the Eagles only paying $1.2M of Parker’s deal, there’s no guarantee he makes the final roster cut in August either.

     

     

     

     

    The Eagles have already made plenty of moves signing new faces to the team, who are you hoping they’re still able to add before the draft?

     

    Go Birds!

     

     

    Photo Credit: Matt Rourke / AP Photo

     

     

     

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    Tyler L’Heureux

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  • LSU QB Jayden Daniels wins 2023 Heisman Trophy

    LSU QB Jayden Daniels wins 2023 Heisman Trophy

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    LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels is a Heisman winner.

    The senior quarterback won the award over Oregon QB Bo Nix, Washington QB Michael Penix Jr. and Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. after a phenomenal dual-threat season. Daniels was one of the nation’s leading passers in nearly all the major metrics and also one of only two quarterbacks to rush for over 1,000 yards during 2023.

    Daniels finished with 503 first-place votes while Penix finished with 292 first-place votes. The total margin between the two quarterbacks, 2,029 points to 1,701 points, was the closest Heisman voting has finished since 2018.

    Daniels finished the regular season 236-of-327 passing for 3,812 yards and 40 TDs. He threw just four interceptions and completed over 70% of his passes. Just six players — including Nix at 77.2% — completed a higher percentage of their passes.

    But Daniels had everyone easily beat in yards per attempt. He was by far the nation’s leader in that category as the LSU offense averaged 11.7 yards every time he threw the football. Alabama QB Jalen Milroe, the player in second in yards per attempt, averaged 1.3 yards fewer per throw.

    Daniels also tied for the lead in passing touchdowns with Nix despite playing one fewer game. Nix played in 13 games in 2023 as Oregon went to the Pac-12 title game. But Penix and the Huskies beat the Ducks to get to the College Football Playoff. It was a game that likely sealed Daniels’ status as the Heisman winner as Nix fell below the all-time single-season record for completion percentage (Mac Jones’ 77.4% in 2020).

    In addition to being a threat with LSU receivers Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas to break a big play from nearly anywhere on the field through the air, he was also a big play waiting to happen on the ground.

    Daniels rushed 135 times for 1,134 yards and 10 touchdowns over 12 games. He averaged the most yards per carry of any qualified player in college football at 8.4 and was over a full yard ahead of Tennessee RB Jaylen Wright in second place.

    It’s a remarkable rushing total and rushing average for a quarterback who dropped back to pass as much as Daniels did. College football statistics count sacks against a quarterback’s rushing totals and Daniels was sacked 22 times. Penix, for example, has rushed for minus-18 yards this season.

    Daniels had five games with at least one run longer than 40 yards and his signature performance came in a 52-35 win over Florida on Nov. 11. Daniels was 17-of-26 passing for 372 yards and three touchdowns through the air while rushing 12 times for 234 yards and two scores. Daniels broke touchdown runs of 85 yards and 51 yards during that game and then threw three touchdowns in the final 18 minutes as the Tigers pulled away from the Gators.

    It was the first time in top-level college football history that a player had thrown for over 350 yards and rushed for over 200 yards in the same game.

    He also powered the Tigers’ comeback win at No. 9 Missouri on Oct. 7. After briefly leaving the game early in the fourth quarter following a crushing hit at the goal line, Daniels returned to engineer two go-ahead touchdown drives on LSU’s next two possessions.

    He broke a 35-yard TD run on third down to give the Tigers a 35-32 lead over Mizzou with less than eight minutes to go, and then accounted for all 75 yards on LSU’s next drive as the Tigers went up for good with less than three minutes to go.

    That drive also included a monster third-down run. Daniel broke a 31-yard run on third down to get to the Missouri 29 yard-line and a play later hit Nabers for a 29-yard score that put LSU up 42-39.

    A three-loss Heisman winner

    Players on teams with more than two losses don’t win the Heisman very often. Especially in recent seasons. Last year, USC was 11-2 when Caleb Williams lifted the award. The year before that, Alabama was 12-1 when Bryce Young won and undefeated when DeVonta Smith won in 2020.

    Williams, in fact, became just the second player to win the Heisman in the playoff era as part of a team that wasn’t in the four-team playoff. As Daniels joins that group, he’s the first player since Lamar Jackson in 2016 to be a part of a team that had three losses before the Heisman ceremony.

    Like Daniels, Jackson was a dynamic passer and rusher and his season-long performance was too good to ignore. Jackson threw for over 3,500 yards and rushed for nearly 1,600 that season as he accounted for 51 touchdowns.

    Overall, Daniels is just the 15th player on a team with three or more losses to win the Heisman and the fourth in the 2000s along with Jackson, Baylor’s Robert Griffin III in 2011 and Florida’s Tim Tebow in 2007.

    A Heisman transfer trend

    Daniels is also the fifth player in the past seven seasons to win the Heisman at his second school, a sign of the normalization of player transfers. Nix and Penix are also transfers in their second seasons at their new schools. Nix transferred to Oregon from Auburn while Penix transferred to Washington from Indiana.

    Williams won in his first season at USC after transferring from Oklahoma, while LSU QB Joe Burrow won in his first season at LSU in 2019 after joining the Tigers from Ohio State. Before Burrow, Kyler Murray won in his second season at Oklahoma after transferring from Texas A&M, and Baker Mayfield was in his third season at Oklahoma after he started his college career at Texas Tech.

    Daniels came to LSU before the 2022 season after the school hired Brian Kelly from Notre Dame. Daniels spent the first three seasons of his career at Arizona State and appeared in all but one game for the Sun Devils in that span.

    He transferred from Arizona State after he threw for 2,381 yards and rushed for 710 yards in 2021 but accounted for only 16 total touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

    He immediately became a star and improved on those numbers at LSU in 2022 as the Tigers won the SEC West. Daniels completed 69% of his passes in 2021 and threw for 2,913 yards while rushing for 885. He entered the season as one of the favorites to win the Heisman, based on his leap from 2021 to 2022, but hardly anyone could have predicted the eye-popping statistics he accumulated.

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    Nick Bromberg, Yahoo Sports

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  • Mac Jones Benched Again While Patriots Suffer Worst Home Shutout In Franchise History

    Mac Jones Benched Again While Patriots Suffer Worst Home Shutout In Franchise History

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    FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — The New England Patriots gave up.

    Down 24-0 early in the second half, hearing boos at home like they used to on the road, a week after the worst loss of coach Bill Belichick’s career, with quarterback Mac Jones on his way to the bench for the second straight game, the Patriots punted the ball away on a fourth-and-3 inside Saints territory.

    The move netted New England 27 yards — a minor flip of field position that accomplished nothing. Two more punts and an interception — his second — later, Jones was replaced by Bailey Zappe, bringing out one of the few cheers of the day.

    “Obviously it wasn’t really good and everyone’s frustrated,” Jones said after the 34-0 loss to the New Orleans Saints. “Of course we’re frustrated. At the end of the day, you have to turn that into action.”

    A week after a 38-3 loss to Dallas that established an all-time low for Belichick, the Patriots may have topped it with the biggest home shutout in the once-proud franchise’s history. The only time the team was blanked worse: a 52-0 loss to the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins.

    These were most decidedly not the ’72 Dolphins.

    New Orleans (3-2) beat Tennessee and Carolina — a pair of last-place teams — by a combined four points, and followed that with losses to the Packers and Buccaneers. But the Saints found a way to snap their two-game losing streak: a trip to New England, which fell to 1-4 for the first time since Belichick’s first season in 2000.

    “Obviously it was a poor performance here today,” Belichick said in a largely inaudible postgame news conference that began with him lowering two microphones and taking one off the stand completely. “Slow start. We just couldn’t get the game under control.”

    Jones finished 12-of-22 passing for 110 yards and two interceptions — one of them a pick-6 where he was hit while throwing the ball, the other went in and out of a receiver’s hands. His 30.5 passer rating was the second worst of his career.

    Things started out poorly, and never improved.

    New England’s first possession ended with a three-and-out, and the second ended when Tyrann Mathieu picked Jones off and ran it in from the Patriots 27. Their next drive was their longest — seven plays for 49 yards — and it ended with a missed 48-yard field goal.

    His remaining possessions: Punt, punt, punt, fumble, punt, punt, interception.

    “We don’t want to score zero points. It’s not the goal,” said Jones, who has regressed since a rookie season in which he outplayed the four quarterbacks drafted before him and earned a trip to the Pro Bowl. “We didn’t score any points. That’s the important part: scoring points.”

    Jones has five touchdown passes in five games this season but has also given up scores on three interceptions and a fumble. His four pick-6s in 19 games at Gillette Stadium are as many as Tom Brady threw in the building in the regular season in his 18 years.

    Asked if Jones was still the starter heading into next week’s game against Las Vegas and longtime Patriots assistant coach Josh McDaniel, Belichick said: “There were a lot of problems, it certainly wasn’t all him.”

    Zappe wasn’t much better, overthrowing open receivers and failing to earn a first down in four possessions while completing 3 of 9 passes for 22 yards. And when the Patriots did go for it on fourth down twice fourth quarter, they couldn’t convert then, either.

    “We put a lot into each week, and to go out there and not put your best foot forward is tough,” center David Andrews said. “Can’t lay down; can’t quit; long year. We’re going to come back in and go back to work. That’s all I know how to do.”

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  • Jets CB Sauce Gardner says Patriots don’t have ‘complex’ offense: ‘They just do everything right’

    Jets CB Sauce Gardner says Patriots don’t have ‘complex’ offense: ‘They just do everything right’

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    The Jets defense had a less-than-stellar Week 2 as they gave up 30 points in the 20-point loss to the Cowboys. 

    Gang Green’s unit will try to shake off a subpar performance on Sunday when they play against a New England offense that has had issues of its own the first two weeks of the season.

    “They really don’t have a complex offense, Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner said about the Patriots offense. “It’s pretty simple for the quarterbacks to get.

    “The gap scheme, everything is pretty simple, but they excel at it. What they try to do is get other people to mess up and make mistakes. They just do everything right.”

    New England’s offense has struggled early in their losses against Philadelphia and Miami. The Patriots scored a combined zero first-quarter points as they fell behind 16-0 and 10-0 in both games.

    During the offseason, the Patriots hired former Texans coach Bill O’Brien as their offensive coordinator. The team hired him to improve a unit that finished 26th in the NFL in yards [314.6] and 17th in points per game [21.4]. So far, through two games, the Patriots are 14th in yards per game. However, New England is only averaging 18.5 points per game.

    Part of the Patriots’ issues offensively relates to their offensive line. Miami registered four sacks against Mac Jones and New England’s offensive line in its 24-17 loss at Gillette Stadium.

    The Patriots should receive a boost this week as left tackle Trent Brown has returned to practice after missing the game against the Dolphins due to a concussion he suffered in Week 1 against the Eagles.

    Against the Cowboys, the Jets defense couldn’t get off the field. Dallas converted 9 of 18 third downs and ran 87 plays in the 30-10 victory against the Jets.

    It also didn’t help that Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott was only sacked once and completed his first 13 passes of the game.

    “Same that you always see, very disciplined football team,” head coach Robert Saleh said about the Patriots. “Offensively speaking, they’re doing a really nice job of methodically moving the ball and playing good, sound ahead of the chains football, if you will, getting the ball in and out of the quarterback’s hands very quickly, they’re effective in the run game, so they’re doing a really nice job.

    “They’ve played two really good defenses and felt like they were able to move the ball very well and then defensively, it’s the same, they’re very, very disciplined in coverage, they’re big up front, they play their style of football and they play it well.”

    Despite the effort of their defense, the Jets were swept by the Patriots last season. Gang Green lost its first meeting against New England 22-17 after three Zach Wilson interceptions. The Jets defense limited the Patriots to just 161 yards through the air and sacked Mac Jones six times, but couldn’t overcome all the miscues.

    The Jets lost their second meeting with the Patriots, 10-3, as New England rookie returner Marcus Jones ran an 84-yard punt back for the game’s only touchdown with five seconds left in regulation.

    In their Week 1 victory against the Bills, Josh Allen turned the ball over four times against the Jets defense (three interceptions and one lost fumble).

    “I’ve had a chance to play against this defense a lot, but they’ve done a great job,” Jones said about the Jets defense. “They affect the quarterback. They push the pocket.

    “They’re relentless, they run to the ball, they do everything right. So, it’s a big challenge. For me, like I said, I’m going to focus on each play, regardless of the situation. I’m going to go out there and execute my job and hopefully bring everybody with me. I’ve been impressed with what I’ve seen on film, definitely long, athletic guys across the defense.

    “Definitely one of the — probably the most impressive team I’ve seen on film.”

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    Antwan Staley

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  • Belichick mum on starter after in-game QB switch

    Belichick mum on starter after in-game QB switch

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    FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick wasn’t ready to name a starting quarterback in the aftermath of a 33-14 blowout loss to the Chicago Bears on Monday night.

    Belichick pulled starter Mac Jones after three series, inserting rookie Bailey Zappe in his place for the rest of the game and sparking the question of who will be starting when the team visits the New York Jets on Sunday.

    Belichick wasn’t ready to commit late Monday, saying: “We just finished the game.”

    Jones’ final play was an interception, but Belichick insisted he wasn’t benched and would have returned to the game in the second half if the score had been closer.

    He said the team intended to play both Jones and Zappe — and informed both players of the plan leading into the game — with Jones’ recovery from a left high ankle sprain “a factor” in the decision. Jones was playing for the first time since Sept. 25.

    The Patriots fell behind 10-0 in the first quarter, and Zappe’s insertion in the game created an immediate spark with back-to-back touchdown drives. But Zappe (14-of-22 passing for 185 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions) couldn’t carry the momentum into the second half.

    As for what that means for Sunday’s contest against the Jets (5-2), Jones is prepared for any scenario. It’s a critical game for the Patriots, who at 3-4 find themselves in last place in the AFC East.

    “I guess when Sunday comes, we’ll know,” Jones said after going 3-of-6 passing for 13 yards with the one interception. “I’ve been in this situation before, and I’m just going to try to help the team. Whatever my role is, I’ll be ready, and I’ll give it 100 percent.”

    Jones wouldn’t put a percentage on his health.

    “I don’t really do the whole percentage thing. You are either able to play or not. In the NFL, you don’t get any credit for playing hurt or not, and there’s no excuses,” he said. “So I felt like I was good to go. With time, it will get better. I’ve just got to play better.”

    Some Patriots players seemed surprised by the quarterback switch — and by hearing the home crowd chanting “Zappe! Zappe! Zappe!” as Jones struggled. Zappe had generated notable fan support after helping the team to victories the prior two weeks.

    “That’s the NFL for you. It’s a fast-changing business,” leading wide receiver Jakobi Meyers said. “It’s tough, as a man, to see someone who works so hard get that kind of treatment.”

    Jones said he knew that Zappe would play at some point on Monday.

    “I think Coach Belichick had a really good plan for us. I understood the plan and what was going to happen … and the timing is the timing. We were on the same page, and there’s no hard feelings or anything,” Jones said.

    “I wish I played a little bit better. Obviously, the game wasn’t good by any of us, and it starts with me.”

    Zappe was asked when he learned that Jones would start on Monday.

    “About the same time as you all did,” he answered, which seemed to be a reference to close to kickoff. “I prepare like I have every other week, like I was one play away. It’s the same thing I’m going to do this week.”

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