New England Patriots shut out Atlanta Falcons in Thursday Night Football thrashing as Mac Jones shines
After a down year following the departure of Tom Brady to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Bill Belichick's New England Patriots Patriots once again look like one of the best teams in the NFL.
Their latest display of dominance came during Thursday Night Football, thrashing the lowly Atlanta Falcons 25-0 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Rookie quarterback Mac Jones threw the only offensive touchdown of the game in the first quarter while the Patriots' defense throttled Matt Ryan and the Falcons.
Atlanta quarterback Ryan was sacked four times and intercepted twice, and after being pulled from the game late with the lead unassailable, the Patriots defense intercepted backup's Josh Rosen and Feleipe Franks once apiece.
After the game, which was the Patriots' fifth-straight victory, Jones praised the whole team's performance.
"It was a good team win and the defense stepped up and played really well," the 23-year-old told the media.
"The goal is to score one more point than the other team and we were lucky enough to do that. It's really hard to win in the NFL and you can't take anything for granted. You just have to watch the film and get better, but at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is scoring one more point than the other team."
The win continues the historic start to life in the NFL for Jones.
Ever since being drafted No. 15 in this year's draft, he has grown from week to week, and in Thursday's victory, became just the third quarterback in NFL history to win his first five starts on the road, the others being Dak Prescott and Ben Roethlisberger.
Jones was one of five quarterbacks drafted in an exciting crop of signal callers in 2021. While his Patriots are 7-4 this season, the rest combined record is 5-24 entering Week 11.
It is the first time Atlanta have been shut out at home since losing 33-0 to the Los Angeles Rams back in 1988.
The win brings the Patriots ever closer to the top of the AFC standings as they aim to qualify for the playoffs, while the Falcons fall to 4-6 following their second straight humbling loss.
After the win, Belichick called it a "short week but good week."
"Good effort by everyone. Coaches, staff players, obviously on a short week," he said. "Falcons really played very competitively tonight, and good to come away with a win.
"We got some big plays defensively. Nick (Folk) made some kicks and we did enough offensively to score enough points to get ahead and win. Hopefully, we can just play a little bit more consistently. We had obviously way too many penalties. Kill us in the return game, killed us offensively.
"We got to do a better job there. But it's good to get to come down here and get a win and get a couple of days here this weekend to kind of catch our breath and then be ready to go."
当麦克琼斯闪耀时，新英格兰爱国者队在周四晚上的足球比赛中将亚特兰大猎鹰队拒之门外
在汤姆布雷迪离开坦帕湾海盗队之后的一年低迷之后，比尔贝利奇克的新英格兰爱国者队再次看起来像 NFL 中最好的球队之一。
他们最新的统治力表现是在周四晚间足球比赛中，在梅赛德斯-奔驰体育场以 25-0 大胜亚特兰大猎鹰队。
新秀四分卫麦克琼斯在第一节投出了全场唯一的进攻达阵，而爱国者队的防守则扼杀了马特瑞恩和猎鹰队。
亚特兰大四分卫瑞恩被解雇四次并被拦截两次，在比赛后期以无懈可击的领先优势被淘汰后，爱国者队的防守拦截了替补的乔什罗森和费莱佩弗兰克斯一次。
比赛结束后，爱国者队取得了五连胜，琼斯对全队的表现大加赞赏。
这位 23 岁的球员告诉媒体：“这是一场很好的球队胜利，防守也加强了，踢得非常好。”
“我们的目标是比另一支球队多得分一分，我们很幸运能够做到这一点。在 NFL 中获胜真的很难，你不能认为任何事情都是理所当然的。你只需要看电影并变得更好，但归根结底，唯一重要的是比另一支球队多得分一分。”
这场胜利延续了琼斯在 NFL 的历史性开端。
自从今年的选秀第 15 位被选中以来，他每周都在成长，在周四的胜利中，他成为 NFL 历史上第三位在客场赢得前五场首发的四分卫，其他人是达克普雷斯科特和本罗斯利斯伯格。
琼斯是 2021 年在令人兴奋的信号呼叫者中被选中的五名四分卫之一。虽然他的爱国者队本赛季的战绩为 7-4，但进入第 11 周的其余总战绩为 5-24。
这是亚特兰大自 1988 年以 33-0 输给洛杉矶公羊队以来第一次在主场被拒之门外。
这场胜利让爱国者队更接近亚足联积分榜的榜首，因为他们的目标是获得季后赛资格，而猎鹰队在连续第二次惨败后以 4-6 落后。
获胜后，Belichick 称其为“短暂但美好的一周”。
“每个人的努力都很好。教练，工作人员，显然是在短短的一周内，”他说。 “今晚猎鹰队的比赛真的非常有竞争力，很高兴能赢下比赛。
“我们在防守端进行了一些重要的比赛。尼克（Folk）踢了一些球，我们在进攻端做得足够多，得分足够领先并获胜。希望我们能打得更稳定一些。我们显然有太多的点球了。在回归游戏中杀死我们，在进攻端杀死我们。
“我们必须在那里做得更好。但是很高兴来到这里并赢得胜利并在本周末在这里度过几天让我们喘口气然后准备出发。”
