Well, that didn't take long.
Bill Belichick only needed one year to find someone capable of leading the New England Patriots through the post-Tom Brady era.
The Patriots demolished the Cleveland Browns 45-7 behind Mac Jones' 19 of 23 completions for 198 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions.
Jones continues to get better as the weeks go by. He's poised, in control, and taking more shots downfield as he gets comfortable with the offense, and he's coming off the best game of his young career.
The rookie out of Alabama credits his recent breakout to practice and the way he and the team are focusing on the little things:
“I think just practice, doing the little things right," Jones told the media, per Boston.com. “I think here we do a good job every week of preparing for what we want and it just comes down to practice, execution, becoming game reality, and when we practice well, we play well. When we don’t practice well, usually we don’t play as well. And so it’s pretty much that simple and we just have to keep doing that.”
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Jones said that the team's recent efforts are the key behind their 4-game winning streak. They're focused, locked in, and don't care about whether they're up double-digits against their rivals:
“You just have to execute the plays that are called,” Jones added. “You can’t look at where you are. You can’t look at the scoreboard. You can’t worry about external factors. You just have to focus on, ‘All right, here is what I’m supposed to do.’ When 11 guys do it together, the product will be really good at the end of the drive.”
The Patriots entered the season with a defensive mindset but their offense continues to improve as the year goes by, even logging 452 total yards in their win over Cleveland. Per Jones, that's all because the team is just having fun:
“That’s what happens when you play football like that, you score a lot more points, and it becomes way more fun,” Jones said. “You’re scoring touchdowns, the defense is going out there getting stops, special team is making their plays. it’s a 3-level game."
The Patriots are now riding a 4-game winning streak and would make the playoffs if the season ended today.
They trail the Buffalo Bills at the top of the AFC East by one game but have yet to face them this season:
“When we click on all cylinders, we can be pretty good," Jones concluded.
Belichick has historically owned the Bills and the Pats are peaking when it matters the most, so we wouldn't want to put our money against them in the division.
