Mac Jones on Raiders’ winning TD: ‘That’s on me’

New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones had perhaps his worst game as an NFL passer on Sunday. And it ended with the former Alabama All-American being stiff-armed to the ground by Chandler Jones as the Las Vegas Raiders defensive end scored the winning touchdown on an inexplicably boneheaded play as time ran out.

After blowing a 17-3 lead, the Raiders were on the verge of becoming the first team in NFL history to lose five games in one season after leading by double digits at halftime.

But trailing 24-17, Las Vegas went 81 yards in nine plays in 1:39 to tie the score on a 30-yard pass from quarterback Derek Carr to wide receiver Keelan Cole with 32 seconds to play.

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New England got off six snaps after that touchdown, with running back Rhamondre Stevenson bursting up the middle on the final one. But 23 yards into his run, Stevenson lateralled the football to wide receiver Jakobi Meyers.

Meyers then tried to throw the football back down the field to Mac Jones, who was 15 yards away. Instead, Chandler Jones caught the football and stiff-armed his way through the New England quarterback on his 48-yard run to the end zone that gave the Raiders a 30-24 victory.

“I got to tackle the guy,” Mac Jones said. “That’s on me. That’s my fault. If we tackle him – or I tackle him – then we play for overtime, so it’s on me. Got to make that. Not good enough by me. It is what it is and got to tackle him and play for overtime, so that’s on me.”

New England coach Bill Belichick declined to say whether the Patriots players had been instructed to lateral on the final play or reminded not to so with the score tied.

“Made a mistake on the play,” Belichick said. “… Look, we talk about situational football. We talk about it every week. But we’ve obviously got to do a better job playing situational football and not making critical mistakes in the game.”

Jones completed 13-of-31 passes for 112 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions on Sunday.

Jones is the first quarterback in three years to throw at least 31 times in an NFL game and complete no more than 13. Jones’ completion rate of 41.9 percent was the lowest of his NFL career, and his 112 passing yards were the fewest in any game that he’d been healthy enough to finish.

“I think Jakobi’s one of the best teammates I’ve ever had,” Jones said. “He’s a fighter, and he does everything he can to try to help the team. Obviously, you’d have to ask coach about it and see what our plan was, but at the end of the day, the guy’s out there fighting and trying to compete to win the game.

“There’s a lot of things that I could have done better in the game so we’re not even in that situation. I don’t play very well; we’re in that situation. It’s terrible. It’s tough, but I love Jakobi, and I love all the guys on our team. It’s not Jakobi’s fault.”

New England had three offensive possessions that gained more than 26 yards on Sunday. The first two resulted in field goals, with the first one short-circuited by a false-start penalty on fourth-and-goal at the Las Vegas 1-yard line.

The third drive included a 39-yard completion by Jones to Meyers followed by a 34-yard run by Stevenson to the end zone as the Patriots took a 24-17 lead with 3:43 to play.

“I think we just got to score more points early,” Jones said. “A play’s a play, and I didn’t execute enough good plays today. If you don’t do that, you’re not going to score. A tough situation, and it definitely falls on me. I got to be better.”

The Patriots dropped to 7-7. The loss knocked New England out of one of the AFC’s wild-card playoff positions with three games remaining in the regular season. The Patriots return to the field on Christmas Eve, when the Cincinnati Bengals visit Gillette Stadium.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.

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