The sky is the limit for New England Patriots young quarterback Mac Jones and there is nothing he can’t achieve if healthy and the Patriots provide him with top talent around him.
The game against the Bucs demonstrated that crystal clear as he dazzled the best team in the league with a one-dimensional offense. That would be passing, only.
The young slinger is already proving he’s a star in the making and to this point probably the best of all the five top or any other rookie quarterbacks.
New England Patriots Mac Jones will light the NFL on fire
In his first four games, he’s shown his potential with his precision passing even if he hasn’t yet hit a big jackpot in TD passes. He did get two against the champs, though.
And this is against all odds as will be more fully explored later on. He’s a one-man band with only the help of average receivers, good tight ends, and not much else. Not much else to date at all.
Take this to the bank, if the Patriots’ personnel decision-makers ever get him a good offensive line and just one a top wide receiver, this guy can throw for 80 percent in some games.
That’s seldom happened in the past with the greatest ever in tow, so why should we think it will now? Well, maybe Mr. Kraft will make it so. We’ll see.
Mac Jones is completing 70 percent of his passes in his first four games as a rookie. Not sure if that’s ever been done before by anyone.
Any stat guys who know please enlighten in the comments. One thing is certain. there ain’t been many if there have been any others.
And the game against the reigning champion Tampa Bay Bucs was a masterpiece by the young rookie who took his lumps (4 sacks and more) and still delivered the rock to the blue shirts.
Too little has been made of just how masterful that performance against Tom Brady was. How often does any quarterback show up the very best of the best, ever? Not very often.
Yet, Jones did just that on Sunday night and he’s getting far too few kudos for just how good he was. Oh yes, he did throw a pick.
Right, big deal. he was under assault all night long on virtually every play. Have the Patriots offensive lineman ever heard of a “clean pocket”?
It means the quarterback has ample time to throw. but even without that, he threw 40 passes and 31 of them were completed to his team.
Look, there will never be another Tom Brady. That guy is just an amalgamation of talent, will, determination, and preparation. He’s an anomaly to an anomaly.
Yet, the kid bested him on Sunday night. Absent an errant field goal attempt that hit the upright, he might just have made one lousy prognosticator right on his first thought on Jones vs. Brady.
That was that Jones would beat the best of the best, but that was predicated on a good New England Patriots running game. The Patriots had no running game Sunday at all…zilch.
It’s was as pathetic a performance by a running back room as you’ll likely ever see. Hello Bobby Greer, please convey that (no doubt he has) to the guys you’re coaching.
New England Patriots and Mac Jones just missed beating the defending champs
Yet, that notwithstanding, Mac Jones still had his team on the verge of beating the best quarterback and the reigning NFL Champs and missed that golden opportunity by a foot on a kick.
Little is being made of his 77.5 percent completion percentage in that game? 77.5 percent. Right. That’s Drew Brees-esque, and better.
And Jones doesn’t have the receivers Brees had to throw to. Not even close. His are average, at best but he does have a couple of good tight ends (most of the time).
And to make that performance even more impressive, Jones performed those heroics with a lousy offensive line.
That room’s play this season has been truly offensive. And he even showed he’s one class young man by defending the indefensible, his offensive line. Gotta like that too.
Yet despite mediocre wide receivers, a no running game, and a porous offensive line that can’t block a cardboard cut-out of a defensive player, Jones still somehow managed to throw for 77.5 percent against the defending champions.
If it looks like this space is hyping Mac Jones, you’re darn right it is. It has since after the draft when after reviewing his film it was clear that this young man is the real deal.
It’s truly ironic that one of the worst drafting teams in the NFL, the Patriots, waited until Jones slid to pick 15 where they used their own pick rather than trading up to ensure getting Jones.
Perhaps they didn’t think he was the best option. Yet, they didn’t trade up for anyone else either. They were either very, very lucky again (think the 199th pick in 2000) or brilliant.
I’d suggest the former, but who knows. One thing seems perfectly clear though, they struck paydirt again with Mac Jones falling into their laps at 15.
For certain, there will be a bunch of teams from New York to San Francisco (especially in San Francisco!) that will rue the day they passed on this young man in the draft.
So again, Jones completed 77.5 percent against the champions. He’s already logged 70 percent completion percentage in his first four games, ever. And he’s just getting started. Wow.
Hopefully, Bob Kraft, Bill Belichick, and company have learned their lesson well and will not withhold the weapons they so often did from Tom Brady from Jones. We’ll see soon enough.
It’s time to stock up now, before the trade deadline, on an offensive tackle or two and a top wide receiver. If they do, just wait to see what could happen thereafter. It could be quite marvelous.