Forget the Mac Jones intercept...

Do you recall Jones' pre-benching interception during Monday's 33-14 home defeat to the Chicago Bears? Well, when it passed over a wire supporting ESPN's floating SkyCam on the "Monday Night Football" broadcast, its course may have shifted. The ball appears to take a little bump in spin as it crosses a wire in a slow-motion video that has gone viral. Safety Jaquan Brisker then intercepts the ball. The play ought to have been called dead by a referee if the ball had reached the goal line, eliminating the error that seemed to push Jones to the bench in favour of rookie Bailey Zappe. The wire "was more than 15 feet above the ball" in the disputed footage, according to a statement from ESPN, which on Wednesday denied any involvement of their equipment in the interception. Perhaps it was an optical trick. Possibly a poor camera angle. When it comes to the New England reality that is deteriorating, it is largely an unimportant sideshow. The Patriots have a serious issue if Jones' greatest defense is coming from a fictitious equipment malfunction rather than his head coach.

If you’re looking to build some defense of Mac Jones, there is now an intriguing video snippet that isn’t New England Patriots coach/skipping jukebox Bill Belichick repeating “We’ll see how it goes today.” The simple truth is that this entire Jones situation has been — and continues to be — bungled by Belichick. He lost his two best savants when it came to offense when Tom Brady went out the door and then was followed two years later by offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. Now Belichick's attempt to replace both has the momentum and trajectory of a piano pushed out of a 10th-floor window. What’s worse is that Belichick is making mistakes that seem remarkably amateurish for a coach who should understand how to proceed with an injured second-year quarterback. And for those who might wonder, that’s absolutely how some are looking at Jones inside the building. Not as a draft pick failure. Not as a formerly detail-oriented quarterback who suddenly can’t process a defense. And not as an inferior player to Zappe.

Instead, here's how some on the staff look at Jones. He’s a second-year quarterback who just lost McDaniels, one of the most experienced play-calling offensive coordinators in the NFL. Now he’s adjusting to Matt Patricia, who had no experience calling an offense. He’s not nearly playing at full health, thanks to a high ankle sprain that more than likely should have kept him out of the game against the Bears. He’s not playing in an offense that’s built from a talent standpoint to compete with at least two teams in the division (the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins). And with one season of film available, defensive staffs understand more of his weaknesses and blind spots. When you cook all of that down, what you get is a predictably difficult set of circumstances that are impacting the next phase of Jones' growth. It should be understandable, given the NFL is a league that thrives on continuity, roster talent and experience. If Jones' critics were realistic about rating those three columns on a scale of 1 to 10, New England’s scores would be middling at best. But what can’t be accounted for now is what Belichick did to Jones on Monday, specifically failing to support him to the point of poisoning the fan base against him. And not just with this public waffling between Jones and Zappe, but also with the decision to put Jones onto the field against the Bears when Belichick, by his own admission, didn’t appear to believe Jones was healthy. Consider the wave New England was riding into the Chicago game. Not only had Zappe won the previous two weeks, but he appeared to get better from one win to the next. The team had momentum. The pressure was off Jones to make a speedy recovery and get back into the lineup. That might be the worst problem, if it weren’t for his atrocious handling of McDaniels’ departure. Looking back, it’s no wonder team owner Robert Kraft pulled out all the stops to lure McDaniels back into the fold after he’d already taken the Indianapolis Colts job in 2018. Maybe Kraft knew something the rest of us didn’t when it came to Belichick’s total lack of a plan. Because you can be sure Brady wouldn’t have put up with what is being piled onto Jones right now.

Belichick could have handled the coaching transition better. He also could have made better decisions as the team’s general manager. Most of all, he could have done a better job protecting a quarterback who is hurt and mismanaged. Just one season ago, that same quarterback was a rookie Pro Bowler and a massive sigh of relief in New England. Now that sigh has turned into screams of anxiety. And Belichick has nobody to blame but himself.