Hunter Henry reveals what he said to Mac Jones in final seconds of Patriots-Bills
By Mike Luciano
The New England Patriots were shown just how much closer the Buffalo Bills are to contention than they are, as Mac Jones, Hunter Henry, and the rest of the squad was smacked in the face to the tune of a 47-17 drubbing. If anything, the scoreline was closer than the game looked.
While Jones did throw a pair of road touchdown passes in his first playoff game, they came when the outcome of the game was totally decided. The Patriots were down 27 points before they even put points on the board. Henry was Jones’ favorite target this season, and he was limited to just one catch.
Even with such a disappointing loss, the fact the Patriots even got the playoffs with a rookie quarterback is an impressive accomplishment. Henry knows that the Patriots will be tied to Jones for a long time, so he offered up some words of encouragement.
Henry was seen comforting Jones on the sidelines as time ticked away. The stud tight end offered up some words of encouragement for a player that has clearly been one of the most impressive rookies from the entire 2021 class. it’s nice to see leadership like this from one of the veterans.
"The biggest thing from this is how we grow, how we learn from this."
— Zack Cox (@ZackCoxNESN) January 17, 2022
As time wound down in Saturday's playoff loss in Buffalo, Hunter Henry pulled Mac Jones aside. Here was his message to the young Patriots QB: https://t.co/7WUwbMpgVe pic.twitter.com/wqu317HYGp
“It’s a long season, man, and I’m really proud of Mac,” Henry said. “I’m proud of how he handled it. We didn’t play like we wanted to. We honestly didn’t play well down the stretch, like we wanted to. But the biggest thing from this is how we grow, how we learn from this.”
New England Patriots veteran Hunter Henry supported Mac Jones.
Jones completed 24 of his 38 passes in the loss, but those numbers are a bit inaccurate considering the fact that he padded his stats. The first of his two touchdown passes to Kendrick Bourne came with the Bills already leading by 30 points in the third quarter.
Still, Mac was thrown into a tough situation. Winning a game on the road against arguably the best team in the AFC in the Bills was tough enough, but doing so in frigid Buffalo weather was even more challenging. This won’t be the last time we see Jones in the playoffs.
https://twitter.com/espn/status/1482527512345423877
Jones’ excellent rookie season shouldn’t be lost amid this subpar loss. He was efficient, confident, and poised while leading a significant turnaround for the New England offense. Henry knows that Jones has big things in his future, and he’s making sure the rookie doesn’t get too down on himself.
