Former NFL coach, player rip Patriots' Mac Jones after latest benching

Former NFL head coach and current ESPN personality Rex Ryan once again blasted New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones, this time after Jones was benched for his team's final offensive drive of Sunday's 10-6 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Germany that dropped New England to 2-8 on the season. 

"He lacks the arm talent," Ryan said about Jones during Monday's edition of the ESPN "Get Up" program, per Lauren Campbell of MassLive. "Here’s the other thing: Any time the guy extends plays, which is what you have to do in today’s game, he’s awful. He’s absolutely atrocious. The worst part about this game, to me, is four sacks on third down. What are you doing?"

Ryan previously referred to New England's current QB1 as "Peashooter Jones" after head coach Bill Belichick benched the 25-year-old the first of three times, thus far, this season. Ryan later said that the Patriots "absolutely stink," but he went all-in on Jones on Monday. 

"All you’re doing is hitting the check-downs because that’s all he can throw," Ryan continued about Jones. "Anything where he has to push the ball down the field, he struggles. It’s never personal. The guy can’t play. I said it four years ago and I still believe it." 

According to ESPN stats, Jones began Monday ranked 25th in the league among qualified players with a 39.1 adjusted QBR, 27th with an 80.2 passer rating and tied for 27th with an average of 6.3 yards per pass attempt. He's thrown a league-worst 10 interceptions (tied with Jordan Love of the Green Bay Packers) and tossed 10 touchdown passes over New England's first 10 games. 

It was suggested after Sunday's action that some Patriots players have lost faith in Jones. That was after sources close to the team seemingly threw Jones under multiple buses last week. 

"When you miss on the quarterback and the quarterback is playing like (he) is, and the offense just isn’t producing, it affects the entire team," former Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi added during the ESPN segment. "I had the luxury of looking at quarterbacks in my career, like a Drew Bledsoe, and then Tom Brady comes in. You just get inspired by the quarterback position. That’s the sort of intangible that it is. To see Mac play this way, from the sideline as a defender, it’s like, 'What are we doing? What more do I have to do?'"

Belichick declined to say early into the bye week if Jones or backup Bailey Zappe will start at the lowly New York Giants on Nov. 26 after Zappe replaced Jones late in the Indianapolis game. It sounds like Bruschi and Ryan would've announced the QB switch as early as Monday morning.