What the Patriots are saying about Mac Jones’s game-winning drive against the Bills

Patriots

“I went up to [Jones], and I said, ‘What would Mike [Jordan] and Kobe [Bryant] do right now?'”

Mac Jones had the ball in his hands with just under two minutes to play and the Patriots trailing by one score Sunday afternoon.

This wasn’t the first time this season Jones had an opportunity to lead a game-winning drive. He was win a similar spot against Philadelphia in the opener, and in Week 2 against the Dolphins.

On Sunday, Jones led his first-game winning drive of the season, capping an 8-play, 75-yard march to the end zone with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Mike Gesicki.

Jones said it felt good to successfully complete a scoring drive at the end of the game. He called it a “crumb” of success. The Patriots improved to 2-5 with the win and are now 2-1 in division play.

 “Yeah, I think just keep fighting and, you know, it’s just a crumb, right? That’s what I always say,” Jones said. “And you’ve got to build off that. You’ve got to build off that and attack every day the same. It’s all about playing for each other, playing for the guy next to you and understanding why. So we did that today and we need to continue to do that every day in practice and in the games.”

Defensive lineman Davon Godchaux said he found Jones and gave him a message before the final drive.

“I went up to [Jones], and I said, ‘What would Mike [Jordan] and Kobe [Bryant] do right now?’” defensive lineman Davon Godchaux said. “They’ll ice the game. They’ll win it. You can ask him, I went up to him, grabbed his helmet, looked in his eyes just like this and said, ‘I need you.’”

“Once Gesicki went in, I knew it was a play that we always run in practice,” Godchaux continued. “Mike Gesicki is so athletic, with a jump ball to the pylon he’s going to win it all the time.”

Gesicki’s touchdown, which was his first of the season, snapped a three-game losing streak for New England. The Patriots, along with Jones and Bill Belichick in particular, took a lot of heat during that stretch.

Gesicki took a moment to stick up for Jones during his press conference.

“I don’t think a lot of the talk and stuff that happens with him is fair,” Gesicki said. “Honestly, I think he’s done an unbelievable job kind of blocking all that out. I think he’s done an unbelievable job internally leading us throughout all the adversity.”

“Today, with us backs against the wall, you hear all the talk about us having a chance to win the game and we can’t close and all that stuff,” Gesicki continued. “Today we had a chance, and he stood in there and delivered play after play after play.”

Jones completed 25 of his 30 passing attempts and threw for 272 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He did not turn the ball over. The Patriots picked up their first home win of the season at Gillette Stadium.

Godchaux said he felt like the offense bailed the defense out and got the job done. Safety Jabrill Peppers said he was happy to see the offense close out a game the right way.

“Man, I feel good for those guys,” Peppers said. “I’m happy they were able to march down the field methodically. I know it feels good for them with all that hard work in practice paying off.”