Mac Jones will make his NFL debut Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium against the Dolphins.
But, how will the offense look? Will it be pretty vanilla since it's the first game and first start for the rookie? Or will Josh McDaniels show faith in the Alabama product and open things up?
Appearing on Merloni & Fauria Friday afternoon, former Patriots executive Mike Lombardi shared what he thinks.
“Look, last year Miami gave up eight yards per pass attempt on defense," he said. "They are going to have to throw the football. They play a lot of Cover-1 and you have to be able to make some throws against Cover-1. You’ve got to attack the corners opposite of [Xavien] Howard. Leave Howard alone. Go after Byron Jones, go after the other corners on their take and take your chances and win those 1-on-1 matchups.
“Look, the Patriots’ strength is their offensive line. They are going to get really good double teams. Damien Harris is a legitimate, big-time running back who can break tackles. They are not going away from being a balanced, control the pace of the game team. I think they are going to run the ball effectively. They are going to utilize play-action. I think you’ll see them in some hurry-up. I think they know Josh Boyer, the defensive coordinator of Miami, well enough to know how he wants to play, what he likes to do. And they are going to gave him a way to play within the comforts of (Jones’) style. I think that’s ultimately what it’s going to take.
"Belichick is all about three phases winning the game. I am sure he’ll have this conversation with Mac: ‘You don’t have to win the game. We’ve got to play good in the kicking game. We’ve got to play good on defense and we’ve got to play good on offense. You have to play good. You’re just part of the three things.’”
Lombardi also believes the Patriots are Super Bowl contenders with Jones under center.
