Mac Jones threw a costly pick-six against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, only to bounce back with one of the biggest throws of his career.
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‘He forgets really well’: What Mac Jones, Kendrick Bourne said about wild sequence following pick-6 vs. Cowboys
"That’s going to happen a lot more hopefully in my career."
New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones throws during the first half of an NFL football game.
AP Photo/Steven Senne
By
Tom Westerholm
October 17, 2021
Mac Jones followed one of the most costly mistakes of his young career with one of his more impressive moments against the Cowboys on Sunday.
With the clock ticking toward the two-minute warning and the
Patriots nursing a one-point lead, Jones tried to fire
a pass to Kendrick Bourne. The pass was a little ahead of the receiver, and Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs snared it. Diggs motored into the end zone, and the Patriots’ hard-won lead evaporated.
On the Patriots’ next play from scrimmage, however, Jones fired to Bourne again — this time a deep ball that snaked between two defenders and led Bourne on a run to the end zone. The Patriots converted two points and took a 29-26 lead.
Ultimately, the Cowboys evened the score just before the end of regulation and scored a touchdown in OT to claim a 35-29 victory. But Jones’s bounce-back moment left an impression.
“Mac, he forgets really well,” Bourne said after the game. “Like I said, even when the [interception] happened, in my mind, I didn’t point my finger straight at Mac. As it looked, it was a ball that was off my fingertips, but in my mind, I can make the play, I can do something better.
“I think we both felt like that, and that’s the result we got on the next series. That’s why, I think, the play played out like that: Because our mindsets were locked into, ‘Okay we have a chance.’ Rather than, ‘What just happened.'”
Jones followed his usual postgame routine, praising his teammates and deflecting any praise into platitudes about what he can improve.
“I wish I could have done things differently to where we weren’t even in that position,” he said. “I just have to watch the tape and learn from it. It’s not the first pick-six I’ll throw, and it’s not going to be the last. I just have to learn how to bounce back and play the next play.”
A reporter pressed Jones on whether he appreciated offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels calling a redemption play immediately after his mistake.
“Yeah, I mean, next play mentality,” Jones said. “Whatever they call, I execute it and give everybody a chance to execute the play. That’s going to happen a lot more hopefully in my career, where you have a bad play and you come back and make a good one. So it’s not always going to be perfect. You have to dodge the ebbs and flows and just play the next play.”