Bill Belichick confirms Mac Jones will be Patriots' starting quarterback in Week 8 vs. Jets
FOXBORO -- Mac Jones will be starting for the Patriots on Sunday against the Jets, head coach Bill Belichick confirmed Thursday morning.
It's a subject that Belichick has been tip-toeing around for weeks, but he backed Mac on Thursday.
"Mac took the full workload yesterday and we expect him to be fully available for the game and ready to go," Belichick said Thursday. "That's really it for that."
Jones took the 90 percent of the snaps at Wednesday's practice, and was once again nowhere to be found on New England's injury report on Thursday. Belichick believes the full workload in practice will help Jones come Sunday.
"That's what our offensive unit needs, everyone working together," Belichick said Thursday. "That's what we'll get this week."
All quarterbacks on the roster have been told the plan for Week 8, Belichick added Thursday. He also relayed that Jones is healthy and ready to play a full game, which was not the case Monday night against the Bears.
Don't expect another QB swap mid-game on Sunday -- unless things go really sideways for the offense.
"We started the game the way we wanted to start it, and we talked about the way it ended up. This week is a different situation," Belichick said of Week 8. "Mac will be our quarterback."
Jones played Monday night for the first time since Week 3, but lasted just three offensive series. He completed three of his six passes for only 13 yards, and his last pass of the evening was picked off for his sixth interception of the season.
But Belichick is confident that Jones is ready to take his job back from rookie Bailey Zappe, and believes a full week of full practices will help the QB return to the form he showed throughout his rookie season.
However, when pressed Thursday, Belichick wouldn't go beyond Week 8, saying he didn't want to get into any hypotheticals on the matter. So it sounds like Jones is still going to have to earn his starting job beyond this weekend.
WBZ-TV has you covered for Sunday's Patriots-Jets clash. Pregame coverage begins at 11:30 a.m. with Patriots GameDay, kickoff is set for 1 p.m., and after the game, tune in to Patriots 5th Quarter -- all on WBZ-TV!
