The internal struggle going on with Mac Jones was clear as he pondered my question at the podium after the Patriots’ ugly win over the Indianapolis Colts.
He knows it’s not good — the raw numbers (147 passing yards), the inability to get into the red zone consistently enough (and only converting one of two trips) and falling behind the sticks due to penalties and sacks.
Sure, the whole “you won’t go broke taking a profit” mentality is great, but he wants to score touchdowns every time he gets the football. Having that kind of perspective is tough for a second-year quarterback to maintain, especially one who's gone through the sort of intense scrutiny Jones has of late.
“Sometimes when we don’t [score every possession], we get frustrated, myself included,” he admitted. “But at the end of the day, it’s about controlling the ball. When we don’t turn the ball over, our statistics are really good to win the game. Sometimes that’s hard to realize, but we talk about that internally all the time. When we do that, we usually win.”
When you force yourself to look at it that way, like Jones is trying to, you can see the silver linings more clearly: no turnovers committed by Jones and a 26-3 victory against a team that ranked seventh in points allowed coming into the game (19 of which came via the offense). Jones and the Patriots struggled to get things going offensively and turn drives into touchdowns against a tenacious Colts defensive front, but they put up more than enough points to beat an Indianapolis team starting sixth-round pick Sam Ehlinger.
In short, it wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough to win this week. The problem, of course, is that it’s still not objectively “good.”
The offensive line remains in flux with center David Andrews out, with rookie guard Cole Strange essentially getting benched for Isaiah Wynn and Yodny Cajuste starting at right tackle. Jones didn’t hit the ground as often as his counterpart did, but he still took four sacks — a few of which were probably more his fault than the offensive line’s.
That said, Matt Patricia wasn’t doing Jones or the offensive line any favors early in the game, repeatedly asking the quarterback to hold the ball and wait for receivers to open up down the field with only five men protecting him (and not doing it well). Eventually, the Patriots started providing safety values with underneath crossing routes to help combat the pressure and give Jones quicker outlets, but the thought was far too late in coming to them.
Once the quick game became a bigger part of the offense, Jones looked more comfortable and appeared to play faster. But the miscues and misses kept happening around him, and he wasn’t able to overcome them to get touchdowns.
Therein lies the rub with Jones as things currently stand.
He can’t control the offensive line’s blocking for Rhamondre Stevenson or himself. He can’t do anything about Jakobi Meyers and Kendrick Bourne fumbling the football. And the second-year quarterback certainly isn’t allowed to question why Patricia is doing things like calling red-zone runs for 5-foot-6 J.J. Taylor or apparently calling plays so predictable the Colts were regularly calling them out.
But he’s also not so physically gifted or mentally dominant yet to overcome poor play around him. Jones can’t just pump-fake a defender and rip off a 61-yard touchdown run like Justin Fields did against New England’s division rival Dolphins — a play that sent an audible shockwave through the Gillette Stadium crowd when it played on the Jumbotron during a break.
Ultimately, he shouldn’t have to be transcendentally great in order to simply make things look competent around him, and asking that of him isn’t fair, though he also would probably admit he’s not seeing things as well as he’d like or playing up to his own standard.
Jones wants to be great, and the thought of settling for “good enough” the last few weeks clearly bothers him as he tries to revive a floundering sophomore season.
For now, though, progress is progress, and you’ll take the turnover-free performance as something to build on going forward.
Take the wins now. The going is about to get a lot tougher after the bye.
