“Mac will be our quarterback,” Patriots head coach Bill Belichick declared this week as New England prepared for Sunday’s trip to New York to take on the streaking, upstart Jets.
Thankfully and finally came a definitive statement on the quarterback soap opera that’s gone on the last couple weeks with opening day starter and team captain Mac Jones working his way back from a high ankle sprain as fourth-round rookie Bailey Zappe capably filled in while seemingly stealing the hearts of many a Foxborough fan.
Mac is officially off the injury report and back in the starting role. No more “day by day” or “we’ll see how it goes” or any other Belichickian press conference crap.
Belichick’s more committal if still not long term stance on Jones came mere hours after the young quarterback who’s generally a word salad and cliché machine at his own press conferences finally stood up for himself when asked if he planned on starting against the Jets.
“I work really hard and put myself in position to do that. Yes, I think I deserve that,” Jones declared.
There you have it, two comments over two days from the two key particulars of the Patriots’ QB controversy finally putting the whole mess to bed, right?
Well, as ESPN’s Lee Corso loves to say, “Not so fast, my friend!”
Yes, Jones absolutely deserves the starting job. Not because he’s just a year removed from arriving in New England as a highfalutin first-round pick, No. 15 overall, after a superstar season at Alabama. Not even because he earned that starting job as a rookie, beating out beaten down veteran former NFL MVP Cam Newton.
Nope. Jones deserves the Patriots starting job because of everything he proved, accomplished and displayed as a starter throughout the 2021 season as he won 10 games, led the Patriots back to the playoffs and confirmed his capabilities over an 18-game sample.
An 18-game sample of relative success. Significantly longer than the four games of action that Zappe has seen over the last month, which concluded with by far the Western Kentucky product’s worst performance in the second half of last Monday night’s shocking, ugly loss to the Bears.
An 18-game stretch that’s also much longer than the three-plus-game sample of less than impressive play from Jones this season as the Patriots opened the year trying to figure out and establish a new offense under a couple of new key offensive coaches in play-caller Matt Patricia and quarterbacks coach Joe Judge still figuring out how to do their very new, very different jobs.
So as much as Jones deserves New England’s starting job and should be starting against the Jets, the second-year quarterback still has much to prove as he tries to settle back into what has been an uncomfortably and unproductive unsettled situation in recent weeks.
Jones simply can’t keep turning the ball over the way he has when he’s been on the field through the first two months of 2022. His six interceptions over the course of three games and three drives are way too many, regardless of the details surrounding each of them. His team’s points, efficiency and production on offense when he’s been under center have been way too limited.
Jones has plenty to prove just like Patricia, Judge and the Patriots offense as a whole still has plenty to prove. We know it. He knows. Hopefully they know it.
“We have a plan. For me, right now, that’s to become a better quarterback individually and a better player. I’m doing everything I can to do that. I just want to prove that every day,” Jones said this week. “That’s what I’m going to do. This is a team sport. So sometimes it’s hard for me to talk about myself all the time. I want this to be about the great offense that we’re trying to form. I think we’re making good strides. We want to be better. So we all know that. We want to score more points. We want to do things better. Our coaches are doing a great job. They’re working really hard. We’ve made a lot of progress together. I think being close is never good enough. But I think we’re getting there. We just want to fix the things that we can fix and be better.”
The Patriots’ season is likely at a bit of a crossroads. New England is 3-4, looking up the AFC East standings at the Dolphins (4-3), Jets (5-2) and Bills (5-1).
Jones’ season and young career are at a crossroads as well. He watched fellow 2021 first-round pick Justin Fields dominate his team on the way to a Bears’ victory last Monday night. He faces off with another draft class comp in Zach Wilson this week.
It wasn’t long ago that Jones was the best of the 2021 rookie QBs. It also wasn’t long ago that he was the unquestioned franchise QB and future in New England.
Now, back in his starting role that he’s indeed earned and deserves, Jones has something to prove.
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