Through two games this season, one of the biggest takeaways with Mac Jones and the Patriots offense is the lack of throws down the field and heavy focus on short passes.
Some have held this against Jones and even implied the Patriots are holding him back.
But speaking to reporters via conference call Tuesday, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels gave some good insight and made it clear he trusts the rookie with everything.
“I trust him,” he said. “Completely.”
McDaniels noted there's a lot of things that go into throwing the ball down the field.
“I think protection is one of the discussions you have to be aware of," he said. "Blitz, is there a lot of pressure coming at you, can you hold the ball, are you able to do things with certain protections to add time to your pocket? And he has to deal with all of those same things. He has to weigh what is the coverage, how am I seeing it, does it give me a chance to do that? At the same time, [he has to] react to maybe something in the pass rush or what have you that forces the ball to come out of his hand a little quicker. That’s been the case for every quarterback who’s ever played.”
“Believe me, there’s not a whole lot that we’re holding back for him,” McDaniels said. “I think this was a very aggressive front that we saw in New York, certainly. They did a good job of trying to get up the field and get into the middle of the pocket some, which certainly we can improve in that area as well. And then we talked last week about how much pressure Miami brought and so on, so forth.”
Through two games, Jones is 51-for-69 passing for 467 yards and a touchdown, but most importantly does not have an interception.
