It’s not all about Mac Jones!
Lose and win. And lose again, Jones has been a bit player in the overall early season process in New England.
The Patriots fell to 1-2 on the young season with Sunday’s at times ugly 28-13 loss to the almost equally lackluster Saints (2-1).
Though the rookie starter Jones threw the first three interceptions of his career while completing just 30 of 51 pass attempts for 270 yards with one touchdown for a 55.2 passer rating, the loss was far from all about the rookie QB’s turnovers.
New England has now played three very different games to open the year and, in reality, the outcomes of those three games had very little to do with their rookie No. 15 overall pick new franchise QB.
While we’ve all been focusing like human microscopes on the Patriots quarterback position dating back to the spring – first on the competition between Jones and energetic incumbent veteran Cam Newton and then on Jones winning the job while Newton and his “aura” were released – there is so much more going on with Bill Belichick’s team right now that’s irrelevant of Jones.
“We’ve to play more consistently,” Belichick said to open his second press conference of September as a loser. “We’ve got play with more good plays out there and not as many that aren’t good.”
He wasn’t talking about Jones. Or at least he shouldn’t have been.
Because Jones isn’t the one creating all the pressure from opposing defenses, the kind that saw the rookie QB hit 11 times by the New Orleans front, including on his first interception causing the ball to flutter over the middle.
Jones isn’t the reason that Damien Harris ran for just 14 yards on six attempts before seemingly being essentially put on ice by offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels despite the game still being very much within reach on the scoreboard.
“We gotta hold up our end of the bargain,” center and team captain David Andrews said of the offensive line’s struggles. “The whole team needs to hold up our end of the bargain better.”
No argument here.
Jones isn’t the guy who dropped/deflected his pass into the air on the first throw of the second half, a perfectly-thrown ball to big-money offseason supposed playmaking tight end addition Jonnu Smith that resulted in a pick-6 touchdown for Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins. Smith also dropped the ball on another couple opportunities to make impact plays earlier in the game and may be struggling as much as any projected New England high-end contributor early in the year. Expected to be a focal point of the rebuilt offense, Smith has a whisper-quiet 10 catches for 74 yards in three games, including one grab for 4 yards (despite six targets) in the loss to the Saints.
Jones clearly had nothing to do with the fact New England’s defense couldn’t get a stop after the rookie QB actually pulled the score to within 21-13 on a 22-yard touchdown to Kendrick Bourne with 9:22 to play. Nope, Jones sat helplessly on the sideline as the Saints marched to the tune of 75 yards on 13 plays over 6:45, picking up a couple third downs along the way to a Taysom Hill 4-yard rushing score on a direct snap. Just like on opening day against the Dolphins, New England’s defense couldn’t get the ball back for its rookie passer to even get a comeback shot.
“It came down to one more stop and we didn’t get it,” veteran safety and captain Devin McCourty said. “We gotta stop talking about it and get it done.”
And maybe we, the collective we of Patriot Nation made up of media and fans alike, need to stop talking about Jones’ every move like it’s the only thing that matters these days in New England. For the long haul, obviously his development is the priority. But for the here and now there is a hell of a lot more going on in Foxborough.
The Patriots have won a game in which Jones was a bit player. They’ve lost two games in which plenty of other factors paved the road to defeat as much or more so than the young quarterback.
There quite simply isn’t enough “complementary football” being played around Jones.
The Patriots are a work in progress with a lot more work needed and not enough progress being shown this September.
Jones, who keeps focusing on his own desire to “get better” is a part of that. But only a part of that. New England’s issues run much deeper than their rookie QB through to too many veteran players who simply need to be better themselves. Otherwise, Jones doesn’t have a shot to succeed.
Oh, and don’t look now but Tom Brady and the talented Super Bowl champion Buccaneers are on their way to Gillette Stadium next Sunday night.
Life isn’t going to get any easier for Jones or his struggling Patriots teammates.
“A lot of the older guys have been telling me to keep my head up. Obviously no one likes to lose here and the Patriots have done nothing but win for a long time and we have to get back to that,” Jones said. “It just happens through every day grind and every day work, not focusing on the results. Play each play, play each day one at a time. If we can do that then I think we’ll see progress and we’ll just go from there.”
That goes for everyone wearing a Patriots logo, not just Jones.
As Belichick likes to say, gotta play it better and gotta coach it better.
Then, and only then, will we find out if Jones can quarterback it better.
Wanna know how good the Patriots could be this season? Better start focusing on everyone other than Mac Jones.