Patriots
“He’s getting better, for sure. I was impressed with Mac.”
All-Pro linebacker Von Miller has had plenty of memorable battles against the Patriots over the years, especially when Tom Brady held the reins of New England’s offense and Miller was the featured cog on an imposing Denver defense.
Plenty has changed since then, with Miller now serving as an elder statesman with the Buffalo Bills and Mac Jones taking snaps for New England.
But for all of the discourse surrounding New England’s disheartening start to the 2023 season and weeks-long futility for the Patriots’ offense, Jones and Co. earned the last laugh against Miller and the Bills on Sunday.
Despite relinquishing a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter, the Patriots stormed back to beat the Bills, 29-25, on Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium.
Jones led the Patriots on just his second career game-winning drive in the fourth quarter, completing six of seven passes for 70 yards and a touchdown throw to Mike Gesicki in under two minutes of play.
For the first time in over a month, New England’s offense looked like a competent unit — with Jones completing 25 of 30 pass attempts for 272 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions. The Patriots finished with 364 total yards of offense in their upset win over Buffalo.
Given the nature of Sunday’s defeat, Sean McDermott, Josh Allen, and several other key players and coaches on the Bills had little to say postgame about Jones and New England’s fourth-quarter rally.
But Miller did tip his cap to the Patriots during an interview with Fox Sports’ Henry McKenna, focusing in particular on Jones and his play in the midst of what has been a challenging year for the third-year signal caller.
“He’s getting better,” Miller told McKenna of Jones’ play. “He’s getting better, for sure. I was impressed with Mac. … It still looks like the Patriots of the golden days.
“Obviously, Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski — all those players aren’t there. But they’re still coached well. It’s just turnovers at the beginning of the games that have put them behind the ball, and they didn’t turn over the ball today.”
Ultimately, New England did get knocked for one turnover on Sunday, with a costly fumble from Kendrick Bourne in the fourth quarter looming large over in what was looking like yet another crushing defeat for Bill Belichick and the Patriots.
But Jones still managed to orchestrate one final fruitful drive for the Patriots, who improved to 2-5 on the season with their win over a suddenly struggling Bills roster.
With New England still anchored at the bottom of the AFC East standings, this 2023 roster still has a ways to go if it wants to resemble the “Patriots of the golden days,” as Miller put it.
But a performance like Sunday’s stood as a step in the right direction amid a season were little has seemingly gone right in Foxborough.
Sign up for Patriots updates🏈
Get breaking news and analysis delivered to your inbox during football season.
Newsletter Signup
Stay up to date on all the latest news from Boston.com
Originally posted 2023-10-23 23:49:08.