Fans who stuck around and watched through the end of the New England Patriots' 47-17 playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills on Saturday night probably saw Mac Jones walking on the sideline and shaking hands with some of his teammates.
When Jones got to Hunter Henry, the veteran tight end stood up and had a lengthy and what appeared to be an emotional chat with the rookie quarterback.
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What did Henry say to Jones in that moment?
"I think the biggest thing is, it's a long season, man. I'm really proud of Mac," Henry told reporters on a Zoom call Monday. "Proud of how he handled it. We didn't play like we wanted to the other night. We honestly didn't play well down the stretch, like we wanted to. But the biggest thing from this is how we grow. How we learn from this. Obviously, we got a lot better throughout the year.
"I'm excited to grow with him this offseason, grow together in our relationship, grow together in our chemistry. Excited to have him as my quarterback. Just reassured him, this is a big moment, and it's something we're going to learn from and grow from and continue to get better. That's the biggest thing -- improvement. He has 18, with preseason, 20 games, behind his belt now. You can't take that lightly. That's huge for him."
Henry developed a strong chemistry with Jones and was one of the rookie QB's most trusted targets throughout the season. The veteran tight end caught 50 passes for 603 yards with a team-leading nine touchdowns in 17 games.
Jones had a promising rookie campaign but the finish was not what he nor the team would have wanted. He threw eight touchdowns with seven interceptions over the final five games, including the playoff loss to the Bills. The Patriots went 1-4 over that span.
The Patriots offense has a bright future with Jones at the helm. Now it's up to Jones to improve his chemistry and relationships with teammates over the offseason, and for the franchise to get him some more help with an upgrade in talent at the skill positions.
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