Things could have gone a whole heck of a lot better for the New England Patriots in the first half of their Wild Card game agains the Buffalo Bills. If not for a field goal at the very end of the half, the Pats would have entered the locker room getting shut out, but because the kick was good, Buffalo’s lead at the break was 27-3.
Mac Jones did not have a particularly great half. While he wasn’t as catastrophic as some rookie QBs look in their playoff debut on the road against a very good team, Jones went 10-for-16 for 106 yards with an interception. He also nearly cost the team their only points of the half, because while the Patriots were driving down the field at the end of the second quarter, Jones ran a fake spike. The catch: One player on the Bills’ defensive line, Jerry Hughes, realized immediately was going on, so he turned on the jets, blew past right tackle Trent Brown, and took Jones down.
The rare sack on a fake spike pic.twitter.com/FFdpoeOSBr
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) January 16, 2022
At the very least, Jones could take solace in the fact that this wasn’t a total disaster, because the Patriots converted a third-and-12 after this. Still, in a half of low points for New England, this was among the lowest.