Mac Jones

The New England Patriots earned their fifth straight win with a 25-0 road victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night.

Rookie quarterback Mac Jones threw for 207 yards, a touchdown and an interception to lead New England, which improved to 7-4. The Patriots also remained undefeated in road games at 5-0.

Patriots linebacker Kyle Van Noy had a huge game with two sacks and a 35-yard interception return for a touchdown.

Atlanta fell to 4-6 after its second straight loss. Matt Ryan threw for 153 yards and two interceptions, and he was replaced by backups Josh Rosen and Feleipe Franks for the final two minutes of the game. Both Rosen and Franks threw interceptions on their lone possessions.

It's just the second shutout loss of Ryan's 14-year career, and he remains winless against New England. The Falcons were without versatile running back Cordarrelle Patterson, who sat out because of a sprained ankle.

Notable Stats

Mac Jones, QB, NE: 22-of-26 for 207 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

Nelson Agholor, WR, NE: 5 receptions, 40 yards, 1 TD

Kyle Van Noy, LB, NE: 8 tackles, 2 sacks, 35-yard INT return for TD

Matt Ryan, QB, ATL: 19-of-28 for 153 yards, 2 INT

Mac Jones' Efficiency Leads to Victory

Jones' numbers Thursday don't pop off the page, but his efficiency is what was most impressive. He finished the first half with just one incompletion and spread the ball around to multiple receivers.

The dink-and-dunk nature of the Patriots passing attack might be boring, but the safe game plan worked wonders for Jones. He ran into trouble when he tried to throw downfield into traffic.

The New England offense is conservative, but it has proved to be hard to stop. In addition to Jones' efficient night, the Patriots ran the ball 30 times for 134 yards to control the line of scrimmage.

A balanced attack seems to be the winning formula for New England. With the defense clicking on all cylinders, it takes a ton of pressure off of Jones and the offense. The Patriots look to be a legitimate contender in the AFC despite having a rookie quarterback.

Falcons Offensive Line Struggles Against Patriots Pass Rush

It wasn't the Falcons' night, which might have been foreshadowed by the three-hour, 28-minute partial lunar eclipse set for Thursday night. No, seriously, it's the last time we'll see a partial lunar eclipse of that length for 648 years.

Atlanta's offense struggled throughout Thursday's game, mostly thanks to an abysmal performance by the offensive line.

Ryan was under duress the entire night. The rare times that the Falcons offense got any momentum going, an ill-timed sack put an end to it. Midway through the second quarter, Atlanta drove down into the red zone, but Ryan was sacked by Van Noy for a big loss. Younghoe Koo then missed the 50-yard field-goal attempt.

Matthew Judon, the Patriots' prized free-agent signing this offseason, got in on the action to set a new career high with 10.5 sacks this season. Right tackle Kaleb McGary struggled to keep him contained all night.

After A.J. Terrell's interception gave Atlanta some life midway through the third quarter, the Atlanta offense stalled with a turnover on downs. The Falcons needed one yard to move the chains and came away empty, as the offensive line couldn't get a push on third or fourth down.

Ryan was visibly frustrated and yelled at his teammates on the sideline. The 36-year-old veteran later floated an ill-advised pass while under pressure that got picked off by Devin McCourty.

The Falcons tried to adjust by playing uptempo and getting the ball out quickly, but it didn't help. Thanks to the offensive-line woes, Atlanta averaged just 3.2 yards per play. Ryan took four sacks and 12 quarterback hits on 32 dropbacks.

The Falcons will have to shore up their protection if they hope to avoid another lost season. Patterson's eventual return will help open up the offense, but things won't change if the team gets bullied in the trenches like it did Thursday. Atlanta is on the verge of missing the playoffs for the fourth straight year.

What's Next?

The Patriots will go for their sixth consecutive win on Nov. 28 at home against the Tennessee Titans. The Falcons will look to bounce back that same day on the road against the Jacksonville Jaguars. 

New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones will not be fined after he held onto and twisted Carolina Panthers edge-rusher Brian Burns' right ankle as the defender chased after a loose ball following his strip sack last Sunday.

Per ESPN's Adam Schefter, Jones could have been called for holding, but the NFL did not believe the action worthy of a fine.

The incident occurred in the first quarter of the Patriots' 24-6 road win over Carolina last Sunday. It also aggravated a previous ankle injury Burns was dealing with, and he ended up missing the remainder of the game.

He is listed as questionable for the Panthers' road game against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

Burns told reporters on Wednesday he didn't expect Jones to apologize for his actions, as relayed by Grace Remington of Fox 46 Charlotte.

Teammate Haason Reddick called the play "completely dirty," per Darin Gantt of the Panthers' website.

Jones said he thought Burns had the ball, which is why he tried to take him down. He spoke on WEEI's Merloni & Fauria about the play, with Michael Hurley of CBS Boston providing the transcript.

After I got hit pretty hard, I didn’t really know exactly what was going on. I thought he had the ball and it was my job to try and make the tackle. That was pretty much it.

And you know, obviously when you get up and you see the ball is actually down the field a little bit more...it was just a bang-bang play and I didn’t mean to hurt anybody or anything like that. I was just trying to tackle him and make the play. Because you know, I didn’t really know what was going on.

In the end, the NFL believed what Jones did wasn't fine-worthy.

Now the 5-4 Patriots move on to host the Cleveland Browns on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. The 4-5 Panthers will visit the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday at 4:05 p.m.

Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett said he's aware of what New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones did to Carolina Panthers edge-rusher Brian Burns in last week's game.

"Of course, I watched it," Garrett told reporters about Jones twisting Burns' ankle after a strip-sack. "I will hold my comments on that one. Hopefully, it does not happen to me. I do not know. Is he going to turn into the ankle grabber? I do not know. We will see."

Burns, who called the play "bull," wished other defensive ends luck in their pursuit of Jones in the weeks ahead.

"It would be nice to have an apology, but it's not gonna happen," Burns said Wednesday. "I would just like to play them again. And I wish all my fellow D-end brothers happy hunting."

Jones had explained Monday on WEEI's Merloni & Fauria he thought Burns had the ball after the fumble and was trying to make a tackle:

After I got hit pretty hard, I didn't really know exactly what was going on. I thought he had the ball. It was my job to try and make the tackle. That's pretty much it. Obviously when you get up and see the ball was actually down the field a little bit more, it was just a bang-bang play and I didn't mean to hurt anybody or anything like that. I was just trying to tackle him and make the play because I didn't really know what was going on.

Burns is listed as questionable for Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals because of the injury suffered on the play.

Meanwhile, Garrett said the onus is on him to make sure Jones doesn't try anything similar this week.

"If I tackled a man or I sacked him and I let him grab me, honestly, that is on me," the NFL's sack leader said. "I am not saying it is on Brian. He did not expect that. Now, we have all seen it. Now I know to get my behind up and get out of the way."

The Browns and Patriots are scheduled for a 1 p.m. ET kickoff Sunday at Gillette Stadium.