Bill Belichick reaffirms commitment to Mac Jones as starter despite benching

On Sunday, Bill Belichick suffered the worst loss of his head coaching career in the New England Patriots’ 38-3 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. During the game, Belichick sent starting quarterback Mac Jones to the bench, leading to speculation about his job security.

After the game, however, Bill Belichick reaffirmed his commitment to Jones as the Patriots’ starting quarterback. Instead, he explained that the benching wasn’t because of performance. It was because of the situation in the game.

“I didn’t think there was any point in leaving him in the game,” Belichick told The Boston Herald.

It was a long day for Mac Jones. He was 12 for 21 passing for 150 yards. He also threw two interceptions and fumbled the ball. He was replaced by Bailey Zappe, a move Belichick made in 2022 as well. In relief of Jones, Zappe was four for nine passing for 57 yards.

Things were certainly out of hand by the time Mac Jones exited the game. It was 28-3 at halftime, a score Patriots fans normally like, but things only got worse in the second half before he was pulled from the game.

“Yeah, I just said there was no point in leaving him in the game,” Belichick reiterated.

When pushed, Bill Belichick once again insisted that he didn’t bench Mac Jones over his poor performance. Instead, he was benched to avoid injury once the game was out of hand.

“I just said there was no point in leaving him out there, so I took him out,” Belichick said.

New England is 1-3 this season, with the Patriots’ only win coming against the New York Jets. Next week, New England will host the New Orleans Saints.

Jerry Jones on the win over New England

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones reflected on the win following the game. In particular, he shared his thoughts on handing future Hall of Fame head coach Bill Belichick the worst loss of his career.

“Surreal is what it is when you look at how well they have competed all these years, and so again that is the case where you have all the respect in the world for them. Couldn’t have pictured being able to have the score like this, but again, it’s kind of inspiring because again knowing what a great coach, what a great organization they’ve got. We’ll build on that. That did us some good,” Jones said.

“I would say that we will take it. We will take it, and it will be that meaningful to us and is that meaningful to us even though we know he’d like to have few things different than they are with that team. It’s still beating them and getting the win from him. It’s got everything that’s good to go with it.”