No need to throttle down The Mac Show
Pats should open up playbook for rookie QB
FOXBORO — The Patriots won their first Super Bowl with a quarterback who was a game manager. Tom Brady, drafted in 2000, didn’t throw much during the 2001 season after coming on for an injured Drew Bledsoe in Week 2. He didn’t have to. With a top-scoring defense and effective running game, Brady only passed when needed, and that worked just fine. Will that be Mac Jones’ fate his first year?
Like 2001, the Patriots defense is again poised to be one of the best in the league. Their offensive line is elite, and his group of running backs should make 100-yard games seem routine.
But does that mean Jones also won’t throw the football much? Will the Patriots be conservative, and do whatever they can to protect their young quarterback? Shielding him from unnecessary risk would make sense.
But the NFL is a full-blown passing league now, more than it was two decades ago. Even third-and-short is a passing situation. And if you get behind in games, that has always meant throwing the football. One of the reasons Cam Newton is now unemployed is because Jones is a much better passer.
So don’t bet on Josh McDaniels keeping Jones’ arm in the holster.
In the modern NFL, teams need to throw to win. McDaniels isn’t going to try to reinvent the wheel with Jones under center, and have him as a mere passenger along for the ride. The Patriots will do their best to protect him, of course, and have the tools to do so with a smashmouth run game, but ultimately, he’s going to have to sling it to beat opponents.
And why not?
His strengths are accuracy, processing, decision-making, and a quick release. Jones also has great pocket awareness and field vision. With all that, there’s no need to keep the Mac Show grounded.
Consider the best teams in 2020. The aforementioned Brady threw 40 touchdown passes. That’s a far cry from the 18 he had his first season under center with the Patriots. Patrick Mahomes, who squared off against Brady in the Super Bowl, threw 38 TD passes last season as the reigning MVP.
Newton tossed eight touchdown passes last year, while running in 12 more. That didn’t fly.
“You ultimately know that over the course of a long season, going up against really good players and good coaches, you know as the year progresses, you’re going to have to build,” McDaniels told the media on Wednesday. “You’re going to have to change. You’re going to have to grow. You’re going to have to do different things and add things to your bucket that maybe you aren’t doing at the beginning of the season in September. Our focus will be just trying to make sure that our group as a whole is comfortable doing the things that we’re asking them to do.”
Translation: The Patriots offensive bucket will ultimately show off Jones’ skill as a passer.
He might struggle initially with teams disguising fronts and coverages or a heavy dose of blitzes, but Jones has shone to be a quick study. He’ll figure it out, and by the end of the season, McDaniels will be more comfortable letting him air it out.
In 2018, the last time the Patriots won a Super Bowl, they utilized the defense and run game formula. That became their identity late in the year.
But when push came to shove, Brady still had to drop back and deliver darts all over the field in order for the Patriots to win.
In the AFC Championship win over the Chiefs, he passed 46 times en route to outdueling Mahomes. And in the Super Bowl, a famous defensive struggle, Brady still needed to make plays with his arm to win the game, including a 29-yard fourth-quarter pass to Rob Gronkowski that set up Sony Michel’s game-winning touchdown. It’s unavoidable.
Add in the fact the Patriots are playing six of the top-15 run defenses from last year during the first 10 weeks of the season, including a couple (Tampa Bay, New Orleans) early on that were in the top five, and Jones is going to have to come out swinging right out of the gate.
Teams will load up the box to stop the run and force him to throw, much like they would have if Newton was under center.
Given how well Jones performed in empty backfield sets, using five wides, and going up-tempo during training camp and the preseason games, McDaniels isn’t about to keep that on the shelf.
With good protection up front, and a strong running game setting up playaction, that will tee it up for Jones to sit in the pocket and throw the football. And with a couple of pass-catching tight ends in Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry, along with Jakobi Meyers in the slot, Jones should be able to execute the Patriots’ traditional offense.
During the preseason, Jones worked best when he got into a rhythm, mixed in a healthy number of passes with run plays, and established the tempo. In a passing league, that’s the goal. That’s the way you win.
“When you have a young guy who can run your full offense, is efficient, with a high completion percentage, the ball out of his hands quickly, in a timely manner, and very accurately, that’s the guy everybody’s looking for,” said SiriusXM NFL analyst Solomon Wilcots. “I can’t wait to see what Josh has in store.”