A year ago a common narrative in New England among Mac Jones’ supporters and Josh McDaniels’ haters was that the longtime, proven offensive coordinator was holding his rookie quarterback back.
Maybe there was even some truth to that and maybe for good reason. It’s not easy to be a rookie starting quarterback in the NFL, as many who’ve tried and failed at the task will tell you. Or as Steelers coach Mike Tomlin might tell you while explaining why he’s trotting Mitch Trubisky out on the field losing week after losing week rather than turning to first-round pick Kenny Pickett.
Whether he was held back or molded perfectly by McDaniels, Jones had an impressive rookie season that ended with a playoff berth for the team and a trip to the Pro Bowl for himself.
Even with McDaniels moving on to the Raiders this offseason, Jones’ rookie year created expectations for a Year 2 Jump. He should, after all, be better, more productive and capable of taking on a bigger role in the offense in his sophomore campaign.
And he doesn’t have McDaniels to hold him back anymore!
Except that’s not what’s playing out on the football field early this fall in New England.
Jones has attempted four fewer passes through two weeks of 2022 than he did through the first two games of his NFL career last September. He’s completed nine fewer throws for 2 less passing yards. And while he’s notched two touchdowns this season compared to just one in the first two games of last season, he’s also thrown a pair of interceptions (and lost a fumble), turnover troubles that didn’t creep up until his third game in 2021.
It’s inarguable that Jones and his new “streamlined” offense supposedly designed to let the Patriots’ playmakers make plays have stumbled a bit out of the gates, New England having scored just 24 points in two games, 18 less than a year ago on the way to a similar 1-1 start to the season.
Forget breaking out and breaking free of the supposed limitations McDaniels put on him, Jones has kinda broken down early, though it’s indeed still very early in the process. It’s also very early in his time working with play-caller Matt Patricia, QB coach Joe Judge and the collective coaching effort overseeing Jones’ development that included a more heavy-handed Bill Belichick on the sidelines of last Sunday’s win in Pittsburgh.
But quarterbacks, passing games and offenses can break out in a hurry in the modern NFL.
And if there is a week and an opponent for Jones and the Patriots passing game to break out against it might just be this week against these Ravens in the home opener at Gillette Stadium.
Two things have been quite clear for Baltimore in its 1-1 start to the new season.
First, after failing to reach a contract extension in the offseason, Lamar Jackson is on a mission to make a point about his value. He’s making plays with his legs, as usual, but also slinging the ball all over the field showing what he can do with his arm. Jackson leads a Ravens squad that’s averaging 31 points a game, the dual threat having already run and thrown for touchdowns of longer than 75 yards. Baltimore is almost certainly going to make plays and score points in Foxborough, Jackson literally looking to highlight his value.
Second, we know that the Ravens’ defense is suspect at best in the back end. Despite a lot of money invested in the secondary with big names like Marcus Peters and Marlon Humphrey (both of whom are at less than full strength to start the year), Baltimore has the worst pass defense in the NFL statistically. Sure, much of that is thanks to the Tua Tagovailoa-led (talk about a breakout performance out of nowhere!) comeback last week that included six touchdown passes, but Joe Flacco and the Jets did throw for 300-plus yards in the opener as well. New York and Miami combined to throw 109 passes against the Ravens the last two weeks. Baltimore is clearly very much susceptible to giving up plays through the air.
So what better time to unleash Jones a bit, than a week against a bad pass defense in a game in which New England is probably going to have to score a decent amount of points to keep up with Jackson’s offense?
“When the ball is snapped, let go of everything and go out there and let it rip,” Jones said this week when asked about his comfort in the offense and whether he was thinking too much.
Sounds like a good plan.
It’s early in the season. New England’s new offense with new coaching and new talent is still figuring out what it is.
“That’s kind of what early on in the season is for, figuring out what we want to do,” Jones said. “Then once we find out what really fits, we’ll use that throughout the year.”
As they figure out what they want to do, the Patriots are a lackluster offense right now led by a second-year quarterback who’s playing at a lesser level than he did a year ago when he was a rookie supposedly being held back by his coach and a cautious approach. Clearly Jones wants to do more and be more. Wants to lead a more productive attack.
If there was ever a week for that to happen, for that to need to happen, it’s this one.
As Jones himself said, time to “let go” and let the young New England quarterback “let it rip.”
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