1 – Sunday afternoon at Allegiant Stadium will bring a bit of a reunion for Patriots’ second-year QB Mac Jones and his former New England offensive coordinator, now-Raiders’ head coach Josh McDaniels.
The duo clearly worked well together a year ago, the No.
15 overall pick Jones earning Pro Bowl status as a rookie while leading the Patriots back to the postseason, all under the watchful, guiding eye of the longtime successful play-caller McDaniels.
A year later, though, neither has had nearly as much success with their new surroundings. Jones has struggled to guide a Patriots’ offense now led by Matt Patricia, while McDaniels’ Raiders have underachieved as his play-calling and overall coaching style have come under fire in Las Vegas.
Sunday both will get a reminder of what not long ago seemed to work so well for them together in New England, and leading up to the matchup this week each had very positive things to say about his former coworker.
“Mac’s very bright,” McDaniels told reporters of his former pupil. “It’s hard to fool him. Very accurate, sees things very well.
Plays with anticipation in the passing game. Has great touch and accuracy. I mean, from his college career, what did there, to last year to this year, just has a knack for winning, making big plays, and continues to fight and press on even when there’s some adversity. Very tough. Very tough, you know, stands in there and takes a shot in the mouth and keeps playing.
“So, got a lot of respect and admiration for him, what he did last year, what he did in college and then what he’s doing this year. Just a solid player in every way you want to look at it. He’s a solid player at that position and it’s hard to rattle that kind of a guy.”
Jones had plenty of praise for McDaniels, whom he seemed to meld minds and styles with so well a year ago.
“Josh is a great coach," Jones said on WEEI this week. “Pushed me really hard and coached me hard. We worked together, and we were with each other every day and working hard.
"He expects a lot out of his players and he’s a smart, smart guy. He’s got a great memory, great recall. He remembers things from certain games and all that stuff. Definitely a great coach and looking forward to going against him this weekend."
McDaniels had plenty of success over the years without Jones. Jones has succeeded at times without McDaniels. But there is no question that both seemed to enjoy their time together in New England in 2021. They will get a reminder of that on Sunday, as both try to salvage what’s left of what in many ways has been a very disappointing 2022 season.
As much as the meeting may trigger positive memories for the duo, they obviously will be trying to exit the matchup with victory in hand.
“It’s a football game on Sunday, not a reunion,” McDaniels said of facing Jones, former boss Bill Belichick and the Patriots organization he called home for the better part of two decades. “That’s not what it’s all about.”
Not what it’s all about, but certainly it’s a part of it.
For both sides. How could it not be?
2 – Christian Barmore faced significant expectations and hype heading into his sophomore season. Those have not panned out for the 2021 second-round pick out of Alabama, in large part thanks to a knee injury that limited the big man on the defensive front to just six games played and landed him on injured reserve for the last month-plus.
But Barmore returns to the active roster for Sunday’s game in Las Vegas and could represent a big addition to the late-season New England defense as it prepares for a four-game gauntlet of impressive opposing offensive attacks. Given the success that Matthew Judon (14.5 sacks) and Josh Uche (10 sacks) have had on the edges, adding the versatile, athletic Barmore to the defensive line mix in the middle should be even more stress on opposing offensive lines and quarterbacks.
3 – New England’s offense is going to be limited in terms of personnel Sunday in Las Vegas. DeVante Parker (concussion) and Damien Harris (thigh) have already been ruled. Rhamondre Stevenson (ankle) and Jakobi Meyers (concussion) each missed practices this week and are questionable to face the Raiders.
With the banged up bodies and options, one guy who’s added to the offensive mix in recent weeks is rookie Marcus Jones, the punt returner and defensive back who’s taken on significant offensive reps of late.
Jones saw action in all three phases in college and has looked at home doing the same in New England, where he’s earning the praise of his quarterback who called him “super dynamic.”
“He’s a smart football player,” Mac Jones said of his versatile rookie teammate. “Does a great job on defense, obviously we see that and clearly on special teams. He’s an all-around Swiss army knife type player and working with him, he’s done a good job. He lines up in the right spot, knows what to do and he cares. So that’s the biggest three things. Everything else will take care of itself, the plays and all that. He’s doing a really good job.”
4 – Mac Jones’ emotion and leadership style have been in the spotlight in recent weeks after vocal outbursts on the field and on the sidelines, seemingly born out of frustration with the offense’s struggles at times. As a captain of the team as well as the quarterback, Jones is in an obvious position of leadership and this week talked about how he tries to go about that aspect of his job.
“I think I always try to lead by example, just by working hard,” Jones said. “Always try to do more, that’s all you can do and hopefully people see that. I know that they do, but I’m not a super, super talkative person, but I do like to be around my teammates and get a message across. But at the end of the day, it’s more about just enjoying the game and having fun, which you’ve got to try to do no matter what. Practice is sometimes you have good, sometimes it’s bad. So like I said, you work through that and lead either way. It doesn’t matter if you’re up or down. So just try to lead and stay consistent and all that.”
5 – In some ways it feels like the 2023 NFL Draft is light years away, but with the regular season winding down April will be here faster than we think. As such, The 33rd Team is one of a handful of draft coverage outlets that’s already put out an early mock draft. The early pick for the Patriots? The 33rd Team goes with Army edge defender Andre Carter. Though this many not marry up with some of New England’s biggest perceived needs, Belichick’s affinity for those with a military background as well as love of versatile defensive players might bring credence to the too-early projection.
6 – The world of football lost one of its great coaches and all-time characters last week with the passing of Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach. Not only did Leach lead some of the more productive, explosive offensive attacks in college football over the years at Texas Tech, Washington State and then Mississippi State, but even Belichick took note of the coach’s legendary, humorous press conference performances that have gone viral at times given his unique personality.
“Condolences to Coach Leach's family and the Mississippi State program. He's been a real pretty big figure in college football from Tech to Washington State. He's coached a lot of great players and developed a lot of players that have played in the National Football League. I know he's very close to several people particularly Kliff [Kingsbury], obviously. So just wanted to express our condolences. Funny guy. He was a funny guy. He's got some press conference highlights that are about as good as they get,” said Belichick, whose press conference style is about a different from Leach’s as one could get.
7 – Prediction Time: For the second week in a row on the road, the Patriots (7-6) face essentially a must-win game. The schedule gets no easier over the final three weeks of what looks to be a very competitive chase for a playoff spot AFC. There are plenty of storylines and matchups of note in this trip to Las Vegas (5-8) beyond the reunion with McDaniels. The Patriots are banged up, especially with the status of Stevenson and Meyers in question. The offensive line remains a major concern going up against Maxx Crosby, one of the better defenders in the NFL this season. Las Vegas is dangerous on offense with Davante Adams and Josh Jacobs, and now McDaniels adds tight end Darren Waller and slot receiver Hunter Renfrow to the mix against a New England secondary that’s without Jalen Mills and is having its youthful cornerback depth very much tested. All those challenges said, the Raiders have struggled to play and win consistently. Their defense is not good. Their offense isn’t consistent. They’ve found ways to lose games that they probably shouldn’t. And at least one hallmark of Belichick teams is finding ways to win and letting the other team lose. This one will probably be another hard-fought dogfight that will be in question well into the second half. There is every reason to wonder where the Patriots offense will find plays and points. And the star power is on the side of Adams, Jacobs, Crosby and the rest. But New England’s pass rush of Judon and Uche should get after a bad Las Vegas line to pressure Derek Carr. This is a must-win spot and a winnable game, so the prediction here is a 27-21 win for Jones’ troops to keep playoff hopes alive. But it probably won’t be easy, because nothing really has been in New England for most of this season.
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