Welcome to the big-time, Mac Jones.
After nearly two months of looking good, especially on the stat sheet, and losing, he looked pretty bad and pretty good, with ugly stats and won.
This is the NFL, especially the kind Bill Belichick signed up for.
There are a lot of game balls to give out, maybe even defacto defensive coordinator Steve Belichick (more on him later), safety Adrian Phillips’ incredible read/interception for a touchdown, running back Damien Harris’ gritty 80 yards on 23 carries, returner Gunner Olszewski’s 19.3 yards average on returns, the offensive line’s run blocking (142 rushing yards) and pass blocking (1 sack) and defensive end Matt Judon’s 1½ sacks.
All worthy.
But was there anybody better than the Patriots head coach in Los Angeles with the bright lights on?
The Chargers’ three best players and probable/potential Hall of Famers – defensive end Joey Bosa, quarterback Justin Herbert and wide receiver Keenan Allen – were non-factors.
As for the Chargers wanting revenge for the 45-0 white wash they absorbed a year ago against Belichick and that strange Patriots team he had, no such luck.
Remember, the Chargers, coming off a bye, had two weeks to prepare for the Patriots.
But the guy I was most interested in was the Patriots quarterback, Mac Jones.
According to the stats geeks and most eyeballs, he wasn’t great, completing a career a career-low (I know, only eight games) 51 percent of his passes – 18 for 35, 217 yards.
He went through a stretch where he was throwing left and receivers were running right. He was throwing over receivers by two or three feet, and other times having sure touchdown passes overthrown.
But that’s the NFL. It’s a grind.
Jones’ best work, in between his high and low throws, was early in the game when doubt creeped in.
After the Chargers first drive, which was keyed by a 41-yard Herbert pass to Allen, Jones did what the “franchise” quarterbacks seem to do often — he answered it with a third-down completion (14 yards to Kendrick Bourne) on 3rd-and-7 and a 44-yard bomb to Nelson Agholor.
The Chargers added another touchdown on a surprising 75-yard run by Justin Jackson for a 14-7 advantage only to be answered with a short Nick Folk field goal following a Herbert interception to make it 14-10.
Jones’ string of late second half scores continued with another interception turning into a 14-13 score at the half.
Jones didn’t do anything spectacular in the second half, other than not screw up a good thing. The Patriots defense did a complete 180 degree turn and looked, at least for a while, elite after the first quarter.
Jones completed 10 of 13 passes in the second half while both teams traded the lead. and when Phillips returned the second of his two interceptions 26 yards for the score (27-17), Jones had to complete only two short passes to seal the eventual win.
While Belichick and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels have been criticized for keeping the training wheels on Jones entering this Halloween game, there were no such restrictions.
The Patriots were running and throwing the football with equal abandon (39 rushes, 35 passes). Jones was throwing short, intermediate and long, hitting on only one of four over-the-top attempts.
There was a lot to like about the Patriots in Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon, equaling their record to 4-4, and appearing to be trending in the Wild Card playoff direction.
But Jones’ performance, besting a quarterback some believe is the Next Great One, Justin Herbert, by just doing his job and nothing more was big.
This was a big game for the Patriots, but maybe a bigger one for Jones.
He wasn’t great. But he was good enough to win. Welcome to New England, Mac Jones.
You can email Bill Burt at [email protected].