Bill Belichick was curt after his worst defeat as a head coach, but he made one thing clear in his postgame press conference following Sunday’s 38-3 Patriots loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
Belichick said he did not bench Mac Jones late in the game due to the quarterback’s performance.
“There was no point in leaving him out there, so I took him out,” Belichick said.
Jones completed 12 of 21 passes for 150 yards but had three turnovers: including a lost fumble that Dallas recovered for a touchdown, a pick-six, and another interception. Bailey Zappe replaced Jones in the third quarter.
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When asked if Jones would start next week against the Saints, Belichick had the same response.
“Yeah, I just said, there was no point in leaving him in the game.”
How was Jones’s benching different from other key Patriots players who stayed in the game late?
“I mean, you’ve got to put somebody out there,” Belichick said.
Belichick didn’t reveal much regarding his thoughts on Jones’s performance either, reiterating the same point that the Patriots have to improve across the board as a team.
“We didn’t do anything well enough as a team,” he said. “That includes everybody. Coaches, players, offense, defense, special teams — there wasn’t anything that was good enough.”
Read more about the Patriots’ loss to the Cowboys
Cowboys 38, Patriots 3: Nothing goes right in worst loss of Bill Belichick’s career
Ethan Fuller can be reached at ethan.fuller@globe.com.