How much longer is Bill Belichick going to live rent-free in Rex Ryan’s head?
Last month, the mediocre ex-head coach ripped into Mac Jones, saying he would “beat his tail off” if he played against him. Now this week, he dismissed the Patriots outright, and took more unsolicited shots at Jones.
On ESPN Tuesday, Ryan declared the Patriots aren’t a playoff team — and went a lot further than that. “Not no, but HELL NO!,” he said, via The Greg Hill Show. “You’ve got a pee-shooter at quarterback. Give me a break right here. This team should’ve been beat by the Houston Texans. Playoff team? Playoffs?! They’ve got no chance at this thing.?”
Ryan is right about one thing: the Texans probably should’ve beaten the Patriots last week. The game’s momentum turned when Houston head coach David Culley inexplicably had his players perform a dance routine on a ho-hum fourth down instead of punting the ball away with a multi-score lead.
But the Patriots took advantage of the Texans’ fatal error, thanks in large part to Jones. The Alabama standout was excellent in the second half, leading a 13-point comeback win. He has 135 completions through his first five games (tied with Joe Burrow for the most ever) and is completing 71% of his passes.
Jones has several areas to improve and threw a couple of passes Sunday that could’ve been intercepted. But still, there are many things to like. It doesn’t look like Jones is going to a bust.
Yet, that’s exactly what Ryan said.
“He’s closer to Danny Wuerffel than Tom Brady,” Ryan said.
While comparing Jones to Brady is silly, so is likening him to Wuerffel, the Heisman Trophy winner who won just four games in his six-year NFL career. Jones is halfway there through five starts.
One thing is for certain: he’s already better than Mark Sanchez. Sorry, Rexy.