San Francisco 49ers quarterback Mac Jones led his team to victory on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, 16-15, but he didn’t go unscathed.
Jones took over for starter Brock Purdy, who sustained a toe injury in Week 1. The former Alabama star and first-round pick re-aggravated a knee sprain from August, but Jones finished the game as he threw for 284 yards, a touchdown, and an interception on 27-41 passing.
“Yeah, so I had a little injury that I just re-aggravated, and I’m good,” Jones told reporters afterward. “I took the brace off because I wasn’t moving around very well, and then put it back on after that. But yeah, I felt like it affected my play a little bit, which I was disappointed about.”
“Anytime you’re fighting through stuff, I know everybody has my back,” Jones added. “The offensive line did a great job this game, keeping me clean for the most part. Just to be able to come together at the end and finish like we talked about on the sideline, like ‘Hey, we got nothing to lose. Let’s go get it.’ The players made plays, so it was awesome, to be honest.”
Mac Jones Flips Late-Game Script
Jones hasn’t enjoyed much late-game success in his young career, but on Sunday, he drove his team downfield after the Cardinals grabbed a late lead, 15-13, on a safety with 3:15 left. 49ers kicker Eddy Pineiro capped the 10-play, 63-yard drive with a 35-yard field goal to win the game as time expired.
Jones completed passes of 11 yards to Jake Tonges and 10 yards to Sky Moore during the first three plays of the drive, and he then connected twice with Kendrick Bourne on passes of seven and 11 yards. Then, Jones hooked up with star running back Christian McCaffrey for 20 yards, which set the team in field goal range.
“I’ve failed a lot in that situation in the NFL, to be honest,” Jones said. “And I just know the guys had my back. And like we talked about on the sidelines, ‘Let’s go out there and rip it.’ One play at a time and erase everything that had happened.”
“I’ve had a lot of potential game-winning drives in my career, and a lot of quarterbacks have,” he added. “I’ve done well in them, and I’ve done pretty bad in them, too, so I really was just motivated to change the narrative. And this team, I feel like they have my back.”
Mac Jones Rebuilding His NFL Career
The New England Patriots drafted Jones with the No. 15 pick in 2021, and Jones never lived up to the high expectations that followed him from Alabama. Jones only led the Patriots to the playoffs once, and he landed with the Jacksonville Jaguars as a backup quarterback via a trade last year.
In three seasons with the Patriots, Jones only had two fourth-quarter comebacks, and he had one with the Jaguars last year. Jones joined the 49ers in the offseason as a free agent with hopes of rebuilding his career as a backup behind Purdy.
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