Mac Jones Rallies Patriots Past Texans

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The Patriots were staring a 1-4 start in the face as they entered the fourth quarter trailing the Texans 22-15. It wasn’t that they were losing, it was that they were losing to a team many believe to be one of the worst in the league and, at the same time, they made rookie Davis Mills look like vintage Tom Brady. However, it is better to win ugly than to not win at all.

Given the opportunity late in the game, Patriots rookie Mac Jones orchestrated a seven-play, 54-yard drive that ended with a 13-yard touchdown pass to tight end Hunter Henry with just over nine minutes to play. They got the ball back just two minutes later and Jones took the team 84 yards in 15 plays to set Nick Folk up for the go-ahead field goal with just 15 seconds left on the clock. Game over.

“It felt really good,” Jones said following his first fourth-quarter comeback win. “I think the offensive line did a great job and I think it all starts with them. They were doubted all week and there was this and that, and all the noise around that and they came out and they played really hard and they played together. I think I only got hit one time the whole game. So just shoutout to those guys and they are a big reason why it happened, and it was just – we just out-competed. I don’t know if we out-played the other team but we definitely out-competed and that’s all we can ask ourselves to do.”

Jones finished the day 23-of-30 for 231 yards a touchdown and an interception. Henry led all Patriots with 75 yards on six receptions and the lone touchdown reception of the day for New England.

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To Jones’ comment, the much-maligned Patriots offensive line was never really an issue in this game. When the team was struggling early on, it was poor defensive and self-inflicted wounds on offense holding them back. Not the offensive line who, as many know, were without four starting offensive linemen to start this game. Even the rushing attack, albeit it a team effort, combined for 126 yards on 30 carries. Damien Harris led the way with 58 yards on 14 carries with a touchdown. However, Harris was the culprit in one of those aforementioned self-inflicted wounds as his fumble into the endzone cost the Patriots points early on. Rookie Rhamondre Stevenson had 23 yards on 11 carries in his first action since week one.

As much of a struggle as it was early on for the defense, they did hold the Texans scoreless on five of their six possessions in the second half. This included a crucial three-and-out following the game-tying touchdown pass from Jones to Henry. Once again, first-year Patriot Matt Judon had his fingerprints all over the rally on the defensive side, collecting two more sacks to bring his season total up to 6.5. He had four total tackles and was credited with recovering the fumble at the end of the game.

At 2-3 and sitting behind Buffalo in the AFC East, the Patriots will now turn their attention to another Texas-based team, the 4-1 Dallas Cowboys.