The New England Patriots showed real potential in the 54-13 rout of the New York Jets in Week 7.
Despite the fact it was the one-win Jets, there were still many positives to take away from the game — especially given the fact that New York hasn’t allowed more than 30 points scored all season before this week.
Mac Jones continues to improve and he had an excellent outing, throwing 24 of 36 for 307 yards (his first career 300-yard game) and two touchdowns. Kendrick Bourne and Damien Harris are finding their way in this offense and the defense is making timely plays to create turnovers and create chaos.
The 3-4 Patriots are finding their identity and Bill Belichick respects them entirely for it.
“I really have a lot of respect for these guys,” Belichick said Monday on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.” “They come to work every day. We’ve improved every day, really every week. We’re far from perfect and far from where we need to be, but we’re heading in the right direction. Again, I have a lot of respect, the guys have had a couple of weeks where it’s been tough, but they’ve showed a lot of mental toughness and resilience to keep showing up and working hard and getting better. That’s what you want as a coach to see your team work hard and improve. And they’ve done that.”
As for Jones, Belichick gave him the due credit.
“Well, I’d say about the whole team it is really true for Mac as well, he’s continued to get better every week and learned from practice experiences and game experiences,” he said. “We’ll just keep going. There’s a lot to see in this league. You get a lot of different looks, a lot of great players, great coaches that really challenge us every week. It’s always a little bit different and it will certainly be a challenge this week with the Chargers and Coach [Brendan] Staley. But, we’ll have to just continue to put in our preparation, our work and [Mac] does that very well. I think that’s why he’s continued to improve.”
The Patriots are walking into a real challenge ahead with the Los Angeles Chargers next up on the docket.
