Patriots fans stood and applauded Mac Jones as he walked onto the field for his first preseason pass as a professional as if they were watching a ceremonial transfer of power, because when you’ve been conditioned to believe the NFL’s greatest quarterback fairytale for the better part of 20 years, you’re prepared to believe in anything.
As much as we all wish Jones’s initial snaps against Washington provided answers, it would be a fool’s errand to conjure something definitive from the first slate of preseason games in two years. There was a time a few years ago when Robert Griffin III to Terrelle Pryor had a nice ring to it in Cleveland.