3 Patriots to Blame for Embarrassing Loss to Giants in Week 12

2. Mac Jones, Quarterback

Mac Jones has had one of the worst seasons for a quarterback in modern franchise history in 2023.

Okay, that's not totally fair since Tom Brady dominated two decades for the Pats. But still, this is the type of season that will cause your franchise to go back to the drawing board in the offseason.

After a week of rumors regarding who would or wouldn't play against the Giants, we ended up seeing both Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe for the Patriots as New England finally became fed up with Jones's poor play. Jones threw a pair of interceptions among his 21 first-half pass attempts, completing just 12 passes for a brutal 89 yards.

With a QB rating of just 27.8, the Patriots put Zappe into the game and didn't see much better results. Zappe ended up throwing an interception of his own, but to his credit, the Patriots' offense did get the ball in scoring range late in the game with a chance to tie it.

I think the writing is clearly on the wall for Jones right now. He's fallen out of favor with the Patriots and with the way he's played this year, you have to wonder if his value to the other 31 teams as he potentially looks ahead to a change of scenery is shot as well. What team is going to want to add Jones to their roster?

It's fair to wonder if he's going to need to become someone's backup in 2024 in order to rehab his value.