Christian Fauria on Sports Final: "You can't start Mac Jones anymore"
BOSTON -- The Patriots hit their bye week with a 2-8 and plenty of questions up and down the roster. The biggest question is focused on the most important position on the field: Will Mac Jones be the team's starting quarterback come Week 12?
Jones was benched for the third time this season toward the end of New England's 10-6 loss to the Colts in Germany on Sunday, with another horrible red-zone interception ending his day. The Patriots are now 0-8 when he throws a pick this season, and 2-0 when he doesn't.
Even Mac Jones defenders are having a tough time envisioning him at quarterback when the Patriots return from their bye week to take on the New York Giants in New Jersey on Nov. 26. Former Patriots tight end Christian Fauria has had Mac's back over the quarterback's three-year career, but he's ready for the team to move forward with someone else.
"I think the experiment is over. I think you've seen enough," Fauria said on Sunday night's Sports Final on WBZ-TV. "Whether it's his fault, Matt Patricia's fault, Bill O'Brien's fault, the offensive line's fault, I don't think you can play him anymore. At least for the short term."
The Patriots failed to find the end zone for the third game this season on Sunday, and have now gone 17 straight drives without a touchdown. Jones also leads the NFL with 10 interceptions, and that number could have been even higher with a few near-misses against the Colts in Germany.
"If you live on the edge like he does, eventually, you're going to fall off. And that's what I feel like is happening," said Fauria. "You just can't play him anymore and if you're a player on that team, I don't want to see him in there anymore. I feel like it's mean to even do it to him."
So who could Bill Belichick start in two weeks? Bailey Zappe replaced Jones for the third time this season on Sunday, but the game ended when he threw an interception of his own into a cluster of Colts defenders in the middle of the field. There doesn't seem to be much faith in him in Foxboro, after the team cut Zappe before the season. The Patriots have been playing musical chairs behind Jones on the depth chart all year, as Malik Cunningham got a look as the team's No. 2 QB at one point.
Sunday's emergency third-stinger Will Grier is an intriguing option, but he's only been with the team since late September and hasn't played a meaningful NFL down since 2019. But if the Patriots keep things extremely vanilla on offense against the Giants, New England fans may get their first look at the third-stringer.
"It's either Grier or Zappe. I think they kind of know what Zappe is and you saw it at the end of the game. Maybe Grier is a darkhorse candidate. He's been in the system long enough and the scheme is going to be real simple," said Fauria. "The Giants are as bad as you with no quarterback whatsoever. So you can run the same game plan you saw [in Week 10] where it's run, run, play action pass, don't throw interceptions and just take the sack. Make the easy plays.
"You can't start Mac Jones anymore. He's a shell of himself," Fauria concluded.
What does Fauria think of Bill Belichick's immediate and long-term future with the team? Watch the video above for Dan Roche's full chat with the former Patriots tight end, and tune in to Sports Final every Sunday night at 11:35 p.m. on WBZ-TV!
