Patriots

Mac Jones says Hail Mary throw against Raiders wouldn’t have been too far for him

Bill Belichick said the Patriots didn't throw on the final play of Sunday's loss because it was too far. Mac Jones doesn't think so.

Mac Jones hasn't been afraid to show his emotions in recent weeks.

December 19, 2022

The Patriots’ gameplan was to hand the ball off to Rhamondre Stevenson and play for overtime on the final play of Sunday’s loss to the Raiders.

Instead, Stevenson lateraled the ball to Jakobi Meyers who tried to throw the ball to Mac Jones. Las Vegas’ Chandler Jones caught the ball, stiff-armed Mac Jones, and ran for a touchdown in one of the more memorable NFL finishes in recent history.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick said after the game that they didn’t attempt a pass into the endzone on the final play because he didn’t think Mac Jones could throw the ball that far.

When asked if the throw was too far during his appearance on WEEI’s “Merloni, Fauria, & Mego” Monday afternoon, Mac Jones said:

“No, I think we obviously have a plan in that situation,” Jones said. “You obviously have to think about everything in that situation, and that’s something he did. That’s his job, and he’s done that for a long time. Whatever the play call is, I’m going to run it and do the best I can. If it was a Hail Mary, it was a Hail Mary. If it was a run, it was a run.”

Jones said there are more factors that go into a play call than just arm strength in that situation.

He also said that there’s plenty for the Patriots to fix beyond the final play.

“They’re [Meyers and Stevenson] both super competitive guys and me too,” Jones said. “It doesn’t come down to that last play. When you watch the film there’s so many things that we could have done better so that it doesn’t even come down to that situation.”