FOXBOROUGH -- The Patriots lost the proverbial battle Sunday evening in the 17-16 season-opening defeat at the hands of the Dolphins, but the war…oh, the war will be fought down the road and New England has an obvious and capable new leader to go to battle with!
The Mac Jones era is officially underway at Gillette Stadium. Forget what the damn scoreboard tells us – we learned a year ago against the same Miami squad that opening day results can be far from indicators of future season-long success – the Mac Jones era in New England is indeed off to a very good start, one that is not difficult to envision turning glorious down the road.
In his first chance at starting action in a Patriots uniform – Cam Newton started all three preseason games and took the bulk of the first reps through the summer of competition – Jones could not have looked more at home after an unfortunate sack and fumble that was recovered by Jonnu Smith on his first drop back of his career.
That hiccup out of the way, Jones completed 29 of 39 passes for 281 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions in his first chance working with the first-unit offense for a 102.6 passer rating. His first touchdown pass came on a 7-yard completion to Nelson Agholor in the second quarter.
But the stats, like the final score, really do little to truly shed light on Jones’ performance.
Jones control, comfort and command of the offense grew as the game wore on. Even while completing his first six throws of his career, spreading the ball around the short passing game, the No. 15 overall pick left room for improvement.
He seemingly hit his stride in the second half when there were more chances to spread things out and survey the field from the shotgun against Brian Flores’ Miami defense that was among the best in the NFL a year ago.
Jones didn’t just look good. He looked very much like he belonged.
He looked like a Patriots quarterback should look in the system Josh McDaniels employs, one built over years of success.
He looked a little like…should we?
Oh, hell, he looked like a young Tom Brady. Or…maybe even a little better if we’re being honest and accurately recall what things looked like for TB12 way back in 2001.
There, said it. Not taking it back.
It was simply and yet dramatically another step in the progression from spring OTAs through training camp and the preseason. Jones, despite what Newton himself declared, did indeed win the job as the Patriots opening day starting QB. And now the entire world knows why, because he’s worthy of the job. He’s not just better than Newton, he’s good.
Jones is not a bridge. He’s a present leader and has the makings of a future champion. (Division at the very least, if not Super Bowl!)
Of course, being the leader he is, Jones wasn’t much in the mood to talk about his impressive debut in the immediate aftermath of a loss.
Nor was his tight-lipped-even-after-wins coach, Bill Belichick.
“Mac competed hard,” Belichick assessed.
He also played well enough to win. He drove his team into position to do just that before the wheels fell off thanks to Damien Harris’ fumble at the Miami 9 with just more than three-and-a-half minutes to play.
“Definitely wasn't good enough, starting with me,” Jones said.
Because, again, that’s what a leader says after a loss.
But he actually was good enough. The fumbles – rookie Rhamondre Stevenson also lost one and the penalties (8 for 84 yards) were among the issues that led to the defeat.
Jones’ 21-yard strike to Agholor off his own goal line while under pressure in the third quarter was a winning throw.
The best toss of the evening by either team – fellow former Alabama star QB Tua Tagovailoa was less than impressive on the way to victory for Miami -- a 26-yard drop in James White’s bucket down the right sideline for 26 yards on third and 11 in the third quarter jump started a drive to a field goal.
They were the kinds of throws that will lead to future wins, even if they didn’t quite pay off this time around. The kinds of throws that will excite teammates, coaches and fans alike, even if not everyone is able to willingly admit it.
“You’d rather learn from wins, but there are a lot of beautiful things that you can learn from a loss,” Agholor said, though whether he was alluding to his rookie quarterback or not can be very much left up to interpretation.
The Patriots indeed learned a beautiful thing Sunday evening. They learned they have a quarterback. A leader. A foundational franchise piece that is the key to consistent success in the NFL.
“That's something Josh told me, just enjoy the day,” Jones said in a quick moment of reflection on his first NFL impression. “You'll never play a rookie year opening game again, but that's not how I wanted it to go.”
The Patriots lost Sunday evening on the score board.
But for the long term, boy does it look like they have a real winner in Mac Jones.
And that’s really – more than a single-point loss in single September game -- what matters most.