O-line must have Mac’s back against Miami
FOXBORO — Mac Jones will have quite a bit on his plate Sunday, dealing with a highly aggressive Dolphins defense that would like nothing better than to twist him into a soft pretzel. The rookie quarterback, who will be making his NFL regular-season debut, will see all kinds of blitz packages from Dolphins defensive mastermind Brian Flores.
Every time Jones drops back to throw the football, he will have to deal with 5and 6-man pressures coming from everywhere. No picnic, to be sure.
But Jones might actually have it easy compared to his teammates on the Patriots offensive line.
As the first line of defense, Jones’ survival largely rests in their hands.
And in the big picture, during Week 1 and beyond, the performance of the offensive line will go a long way toward Jones’ success or failure this season.
Naturally, that kind of parallel can be drawn with every quarterback and offensive line in the league.
The situation with Jones, though, bears watching. Not only does he represent the future at the position for the Patriots, but for the moment, his backups don’t exactly pass the litmus test.
After Jones, the Patriots have two practice squad quarterbacks (Brian Hoyer, Garrett Gilbert) and a third (Jarrett Stidham) on the PUP list.
So, the way it looks in the quarterback room Bill Belichick has assembled, it’s Jones or bust.
Of course, Hoyer will take over in an emergency, and he’ll be fine in a pinch. But even with the veteran, who was essentially banished last season after a rough outing in Kansas City, it appears the Patriots have put all their faith and hope in Jones. All the eggs are in his basket, after sending Cam Newton on his way.
That can’t help but add pressure to members of the offensive line. David Andrews, who assists in setting the protections as the center, acknowledged the importance of making Jones feel comfortable in the pocket. Rookie or not, keeping Jones upright and out of harm’s way is a priority.
“I think you’ve got a lot of pressure any time you play offensive line,” Andrews said Wednesday. “The guy behind you is putting a lot of faith and trust in you to protect him, so you always feel that pressure.
“This is a very good defense we’re going to play, obviously, a lot of familiarity on both sides of the ball,” Andrews went on. “So, we’re going to have to do a good job, standing up to their physical front, that’s the challenge always in this league, it seems like every week.”
Last season, the Dolphins blitzed on 41% of their defensive snaps, the secondhighest rate in the league. And while the Patriots are familiar with a lot of the amoeba and Cover-0 looks Flores will employ, the Dolphins head coach is likely to sprinkle in a few new wrinkles.
So the Patriots will have to be ready to adjust on the fly to keep Jones safe.
Defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah should attract the most attention from the Patriots. He led the Dolphins with nine sacks last year, followed by linebacker Jerome Baker, who had seven takedowns.
It won’t get much easier as the weeks play out. The Saints, the Pats’ Week 3 opponent, registered 45 sacks, which was fourth-best in the NFL last season. Then with Tampa Bay, Tom Brady and the Bucs offense won’t be the only issue Week 4. The Bucs defense is considered a top-five unit heading into the season.
But looking at the Dolphins, which is the first order of business, we might see a blueprint of how Josh McDaniels plans on handling Jones in the early games, and how much he’s willing to put on the rookie’s plate in terms of throwing the football.
Relying heavily on the run game will in itself serve as protection for Jones. Damien Harris, Rhamondre Stevenson and J.J. Taylor will be his best friends in that regard.
Putting him in the shotgun in the no-huddle would also buy some time, when he throws, along with utilizing quick hitters to his tight ends and receivers, along with thirddown back James White.
“We’ll obviously have a game plan on how we want to do things,” said Andrews. “If it’s something different (based on what the Dolphins show), there’ll be some adjustments we’ll have to make. That’s part of it.”
With Trent Brown and Isaiah Wynn on the outside wings, and Andrews flanked on the left and right by Michael Onwenu and Shaq Mason, the Patriots certainly have the talent to be worthy bodyguards for Jones.
Pro Football Focus has them graded as one of the NFL’s premier offensive lines heading into the season. That in itself should give Jones a boost.
Said Brown: “If we can do what we need to do, we’ll be just fine.”
More importantly, Jones will be, too.