For the latest on the Patriots, check out WEEI and Audacy's "1st and Foxborough."
You all know the story about how Bill Belichick once buried the “1-3” football after the Patriots’ lackluster start in that fateful 2001 season?
It’d be great if they could figuratively do that this week with a ball labeled “4:7”: Mac Jones’ touchdown-to-interception ratio so far in 2022.
Put that horrid start behind him and the rest of the offense. Build out a scheme that makes sense for him. Go forth and prosper over the last eight games of the season. Wouldn’t that be great?
While the Patriots try to move on from their early-season woes, I’m gonna need you all to do something similar for me.
In particular, how about everyone who has recently and unironically uttered the phrase “Mac Jones is broken” goes ahead and writes that on a football and throws some dirt on it as well?
I keep hearing those words to describe Jones and how he’s played so far this season along with some form of “his confidence is shot” or “Can he even be fixed at this point?” as if he’s ripped-armed Woody dreaming about getting thrown into the trash by Andy in Toy Story 2.
I get it: we love trying to get into the head of these high-stakes competitors and try to detect any and every sign of weakness or resilience in them so we can decide if they deserve to represent these teams we follow or write about.
When you see Jones look uncomfortable in the pockets he navigated with skill last season, give away the store an unacceptable number of times and get benched for Bailey Zappe during a Monday night to forget, it’s only fair to wonder how much some of it has affected him mentally.
But to say he’s already “broken," his confidence shattered and perhaps beyond repair? Is that how fragile we think Mac Jones is, especially after he's demonstrated he knows to earn things that aren't going to be handed to him?
That’s the low-hanging trope we always reach for when our brains short-circuit while trying to explain what’s happening and we just need something quick and dirty for a conversation point.
Because when you really watch Jones play, even over the last two weeks of pretty uninspiring offensive production, the good version of him is still out there fighting the good fight to be noticed.
Amid the sacks taken and receivers missed and even interceptions thrown is a quarterback still proving he can execute high-level football even when he’s not at his best. There are clearly snaps of him hitting the top of his drop and cutting throws loose with a quick and accurate release, manipulating defenders with his eyes to create throwing lanes, making decisive reads on RPOs and getting the hell out of dodge when nothing around him works.
Is it always ideal? Definitely not, especially that last part. Then again, the Patriots actively chose to take what they learned about what Jones does well in a good situation last year and light it on fire this off-season with the Matt Patricia, so “ideal” was never going to be part of the equation. Now, he’s like most of his other second-year quarterbacks trying to play out the hand he’s been dealt the best he can.
Jones' counterpart on Sunday, Zach Wilson, has looked just as bad, if not worse, this year and just had to bounce back from throwing three picks against New England in Week 8. Justin Fields looked like one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL until he played the Patriots, and I can assure you plenty of people were saying the same things about him that they are now if Jones. Trevor Lawrence has been solid overall but has had some brutal stretches of his own. These peaks and valleys are just part of being a young quarterback in the NFL, even for the ones who have a track record of success. And yet, we insist on declaring them "broken" before their time only to subsequently overreact when we start seeing them play well again. The yo-yo effect gets a little exhausting.
Mac Jones’ tape doesn’t show a guy who’s ready to fold up at any moment or is simply out there trying to survive. He’s still playing competitive football and doing so at a level competent enough for his team to win his last two starts, despite a whole mess of execution and schematic issues that have absolutely nothing to do with him. (Some problems, like his miscommunications with Jakobi Meyers or his processor occasionally getting stuck on a receiver he badly wants to get open, are on him, of course.)
Now, if the Patriots want to make the playoffs this season, which they’ll have every opportunity to do, “competitive” won’t be enough. Jones will have to find a way to overcome his offense’s limitations and elevate this team to make that goal happen; if he can’t, which feels likely enough, New England will head home early for the winter.
Let’s keep it real in the meantime, though. Mac Jones is beleaguered. He’s battlIng. He’s been bad at times and must be better. But he’s not broken.
