Remember when photos of a shredded Mac Jones circulated before the season? Patriots fans were so excited about the Mac-churian Candidate’s transformation that they gave him a a standing ovation when he ran out onto the field in training camp for the first time.
After a strong rookie season, throwing 3,800 yards and 22 touchdowns while leading New England to a 10-7 record, the hope is that Jones can leap one level above the game manager, or At least, the same level administrator.
Yes, about that.
Not only is he worse than last year, but his production is just as bad as Zach Wilson, the standard for bad midfielders this season. After seven games each, Wilson has four passes TD for five picks and Jones’ TD-INT the ratio is four to seven. The Mac has better yard output, but not by much – 1,386 yards to 1,279 in the off-season, good for 198 and 182 yards per outing, respectively.
There’s a reason Bill Belichick pulled Jones for Bailey Zappe in a big Monday night loss to the Bears last month. However, the fault does not belong to the midfielder. It’s on the head coach.
This is form of an offense when it’s unmanned/assigned to two coaches, who I wouldn’t let spill a bowl of cereal. I even wrote so much when it became clear that Matt Patricia and Joe Judge would be responsible for Jones’ development:
“I’m not sure Joe Judge and Matt Patricia could fit a loveseat through double doors if they were two men who came with your moving truck in the greater Boston area. Two heavy defeats as the NFL’s head coach have totaled 23-52-1 over nearly five seasons with their respective teams. If you asked a Giant fan about The Judge, or a Lion fan about Patricia, their answer would be mostly negative – and that’s if they utter the actual words, not the actual words. just give a thumbs up and make a fart sound.
“So it’s surprising why Bill Belichick entrusted the development of Mac Jones to the tweedle dee and tweedle idiot. Reports from the Patriot camp are an offense of frustration, overwhelming, soul-searching, a request motivational speech and a designated play caller.
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My documents can be recycled, but my jokes are still accurate. Coincidentally, accuracy – specifically percentage of completion – is what Pats loyalists will point to as an indication that Jones has really improved this year.
OK. Good, Watch the finished Mac vs Jets footage from last week, and tell me which throws are not safe.
Perhaps my segment of the Patricia-Judge tribute would be more interesting than a bit of the endless march of turns across the screen, which is the Giants under Judgement game plan.
Although Patricia is calling the plays, the deal The offense approach can best be described as “creatively conservative” – and the biggest case of “helicopter training” I’ve seen is the worst.
Yes, Jones hits his receiver almost 70% of the time. That said, nearly every advanced stat illustrates a midfielder who is scared to make a mistake/substitute or pampered as if he can’t throw more than 15 yards down the pitch..
Jones’s average airport per completion is 5.4. That means the ball travels an average of 5.4 yards across the line each finish. In his final year when he could barely hit a receiver at more than 10 meters, Drew Brees had a CAY/Cmp rating of 5.3. For context, Patrick Mahomes has a 6.1 this season, and often lived into his sixties for his career. NFL top passer Tua Tagovailoa has a 8.3ridiculous and a great example of a coach putting his trust in his QB.
Having Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle would help, but if Mike McDaniel’s offense is at the cutting edge of innovation, the Pats are still up to AOL to let them know if they have the mail. What stands out to me in the Jones-Jets highlights – and I use the word “outstanding” liberally – is that Rhamondre Stevenson cannot be handled by one person.
I understand wanting to rely on such a backline, and Damien Harris is a great second choice in defence. However, New England still ranks 17th in dashes per game while bottom of table 10 in total fouls and passes, and bottom 13 in scoring. If you want to talk about an offensive line that’s allowed to have 28 sacks, come in 10th in the league, or discuss highly paid skilled players in the early fall and early end, I’ll listen.
What I won’t entertain is that this big setback in midfield all goes to Jones. Belichick has earned the right to be arrogant. When you have won as much as him, you will get the benefit of the doubt.
Not this time. This situation is more complicated when you read that Belichick through a promising assistant – the only one he didn’t let other teams interview during the season – in Nick Caley to empower Judge Joe Patricia. And Caley didn’t sign the extension maybe because snob, it was even a disaster that could have been classified as inevitable.
