3 Reasons Mac Jones Must Be Benched for Week 7

Mac Jones blew it. Again.

For the third time this season, Jones had a chance to be the hero with the ball in his hands late in the fourth quarter. And for the third time, he failed, taking a devastating safety that sealed the New England Patriots' 21-17 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.

The Patriots are now 1-5 with Jones under center this year, and they can't afford to give him another start in Week 7. Here are three reasons why Jones shouldn't start against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

1. He's Too Turnover-Prone

As a quarterback, one of your top priorities needs to be taking care of the football. Throwing interceptions or fumbling the ball is the ultimate drive-killer, ending your offensive possession and giving your opponent the ball (usually with good field position).

In that regard, Jones has been far too turnover-prone recently. He's thrown a whopping 5 interceptions over his last 3 games and has been picked off at least once in 5 of 6 games so far this season. He's also fumbled twice during his last 3 games, having trouble hanging onto the football as well.

When you're throwing the ball directly to the other team that often and having ball security issues, you can't be a starting quarterback in the NFL. That's especially true of a game-manager like Jones, who relies on accuracy rather than a big arm to move the chains and sustain drives.

When you have a playmaker like Josh Allen or Justin Herbert who fires the ball downfield, interceptions come with the territory and are part of the risk/reward trade-off for big plays. With Jones, however, he's simply making poor decisions (like throwing back across the field) and wildly inaccurate throws.

Belichick typically doesn't have a problem benching players with turnover problems (like Demario Douglas in Week 2), so it's bizarre that he's given Jones such a long leash in this regard. The fact that he still got picked off and took a safety against a lackluster Raiders defense in Week 6 should be the final straw.

2. The Offense Needs a Shake-Up

The Patriots have one of the worst offenses in the NFL, and that's not going to change as long as Jones is under center.

New England has scored just 72 points through 6 games, averaging a mere 12 points per game. No matter how good your defense is, you're not going to win games in the NFL when you're averaging fewer than 2 touchdowns per contest.

While the Patriots have other issues contributing to their anemic offense (like a porous offensive line and an ineffective running game), a lot of the team's struggles reflect on Jones. He has now gone 3 straight games without a touchdown pass and has found the end zone only twice in his last five games combined.

Jones doesn't have the best receivers to throw to, but that is simply unacceptable. It's not like he's putting the team in scoring position, either, averaging just 165.3 passing yards per game over his last 4 outings.

With a career-low completion rate and more interceptions (7) than touchdowns (5), Jones isn't getting the job done. New England needs someone new under center to try to give the offense a spark, because the team clearly isn't getting one from Jones.

3. Someone Else Deserves a Chance

At this point, we've seen enough of Jones. He's been New England's starting quarterback for 2 1/2 seasons now, and the results have been incredibly lackluster.

Jones' rookie season was a high point, but it's been all downhill since then. He went 1-4 to close out that season (including playoffs), went 6-8 in 2022 and is now 1-5 to begin 2023. That's a horrendous 8-17 record over his last 25 starts.

That's a big enough sample size to know that Jones isn't "the guy" and needs to be replaced. Bailey Zappe still hasn't gotten a start this year despite going 2-0 as a starter last season. Granted, he didn't play well in preseason and hasn't played well in relief of Jones, but perhaps he'd perform better if he knew he was starting rather than being tossed into the middle of a blazing inferno mid-game.

What the Patriots really want to see, however, is for rookie Malik Cunningham to get a look. He's yet to throw a pass for New England this season, but the Patriots just committed to him by elevating him from the practice squad and signing him to a three-year deal.

That suggests Cunningham is ready for the NFL, and the only way the Patriots will know for sure is by giving him a chance. He's still raw and has a lot of learning to do, but the team needs to let him work through those issues and learn from actual game experience rather than sitting on the bench.

Nobody expects New England to beat Buffalo in Week 7, so the Pats have nothing to lose. They might as well give Cunningham a shot and see what he has.

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