Getty New England Patriots, Mac Jones
The days of reading nothing but positive Mac Jones stories is over. The New England Patriots got their first win of the season on Sunday with a 17-14 decision over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Still, that didn’t stop multiple publications from calling Jones out for some poor play and bad decisions. Greg Bedard of the Boston Sports Journal wrote the following comments on Jones’ performance, highlighting some of Mac’s modest advanced analytics.
“Got fooled a lot by the Steelers at times, including one for an interception and his near-interception right to a Steeler was nearly a huge gut shot,” Bedard wrote. “Didn’t see the field clearly. Had a 79.7 rating, and his -5.8% Completion Percentage Above Expectation was third-worst after the 1 p.m. games.”
The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn identified Jones’ reads as a piece of the Patriots’ offense that needs “to be cleaned up.”
“Sure, there are still some things that need to be cleaned up, including penalties on the offensive line, some of Mac Jones’s reads, and the defense’s third-down efficiency,” Finn wrote.
The Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy called out an area of Jones’ game that is weak but was billed as a strength.
“Accuracy was Jones’s trademark at Alabama and again in his NFL rookie season,” Shaughnessy wrote. “He’s thrown two picks in the first two games of ‘22 (both on balls forced to new toy DeVante Parker) and received a huge gift in the third quarter when a horrible pass bounced in and out of the arms of Pittsburgh cornerback Cameron Sutton.”
Jones nearly threw another interception that might have put the Patriots in a serious bind against the Steelers. Unfortunately for the Steelers, Jones’ ill-advised throw was dropped, and the next play, former Patriots WR Gunner Olszewski muffed a punt setting up a back-breaking New England TD.
Examining Mac Jones’ Performance Through 2 Weeks of NFL Action
Jones’ numbers don’t look impressive through the first two weeks of the 2022 season. He has thrown 2 TDs and two picks while averaging 232.5 passing yards per game. While the production isn’t terrible, the optics have been tough on the eyes in a few situations.
The interception he just narrowly escaped throwing was one of the bad decisions. Another error happened on the pass intercepted by Minkah Fitzpatrick. Jones was apparently looking for a 50-50 ball opportunity for DeVante Parker, but things didn’t work out.
Jones poorly threw the pass, but Parker could have made a slightly better effort to catch the ball. In any case, it’s just another example from the early parts of this season that might be alarming to fans who may not be sold on Jones as the team’s franchise quarterback.
Should the Patriots Consider Themselves Set at QB?
It seems Bill Belichick and Co. consider Jones to be their quarterback of the present and future. However, there are some worrisome limitations to his game.
Jones’ arm strength doesn’t appear to be at an ideal spot, evidenced by his downfield throws that are rarely on the money. The third-year QB isn’t very mobile, so he doesn’t have the ability to extend plays the same way some other quarterbacks can when things break down.
Because we know Jones doesn’t have a cannon nor footspeed, he’s going to have to improve his decision-making if he’s going to solidify his hold on the Patriots’ Franchise QB tag.