Two blowout losses and a desire to “start all over” hasn’t changed Bill Belichick’s quarterback plans.
Not yet, anyway.
Belichick said Mac Jones will remain the starter for the Patriots’ road game against the Raiders on Sunday after he was benched late during a 34-0 home loss to the Saints, the second straight week Jones was yanked late in the game for second-year signal-caller Bailey Zappe.
“Yeah, we’re not making any changes,” Belichick said Wednesday morning when asked if Jones would start.
The Patriots have been outscored 72-3 over their last two games to fall to 1-4, and essentially have a must-win game in Las Vegas if they want to salvage their season.
Jones, 25, has 1,008 passing yards, five touchdowns and six interceptions in five games this season, while completing 62.5 percent of his passes.
After he threw two interceptions in each of the last two games, Belichick was asked Wednesday if Jones could use a mental break.
“Part of the game,” the coach said. “Play every week.”
The quarterback may believe that it’s the talent around him that’s the problem, based on what a source close to him recently told Fox Sports’ Henry McKenna.
“No matter how good of cook you are, you cannot make garbage taste good,” the person close to Jones told McKenna on Sunday. “Even if it was not Mac at QB, what QB would want to play here under these conditions?”
One weapon Jones doesn’t have at his disposal this year is wide receiver Jakobi Meyers, who signed a three-year, $33 million contract with the Raiders after catching 67 passes for 804 yards and six touchdowns for New England last year.
Meyers, 26, has 25 catches for 274 yards and three touchdowns in four games this season.
The Patriots essentially replaced him with JuJu Smith-Schuster, inking him to a similar three-year deal. The veteran has 14 catches for 86 yards and zero touchdowns.
Belichick was asked Wednesday why Meyers wasn’t more of a priority in free agency.
“It was a priority. We talked to him,” Belichick told reporters.
Belichick said he thought the Patriots were “relatively” close to bringing Meyers back “but free agency is free agency.”
Receiver Kendrick Bourne leads the Patriots in receptions (18) and yards receiving (218) this season.