The Patriots felt like they were building to their 47-17 loss to the Bills in Saturday’s AFC wild card game for a few weeks, but that — of course — was not a comfort for rookie quarterback Mac Jones.
“I wish I could have put a better performance out there so we could push together through the playoffs, but it’s something I’ll have to live with,” he said at one point, as part of an answer about tight end Hunter Henry. “It’ll motivate me for next year, but I wish it could happen tonight.”
Still, Jones — who has been hard on himself all year after both wins and losses — struck a somewhat different tone on Saturday.