Mac successfully attacks in debut
Rookie shows poise in defeat
FOXBORO — On his first dropback as an NFL starter, Mac Jones held a new era in his hands.
He held his future and that of the Patriots. He held the first football he’d throw as a pro. He held everything. Then, he got strip-sacked. Jones fumbled on a playaction pass Sunday undone by poor protection against a clever Miami blitz. He failed to throw the ball away in the split second he realized the play was doomed, then restrained himself from throwing at the feet of nearby Jonnu Smith, an incompletion that actually would have constituted a lateral and therefore a fumble. Then Jones lost the ball anyway.
Lucky for him, Smith recovered. And lucky for the Patriots, their young quarterback, whom they’ve professed all summer to be a quick learner, took his ballsecurity lesson to heart.
Not only did Jones not turn the ball over through the end of their 17-16 defeat, he shredded Miami’s dizzying array of blitzes all afternoon. When faced with five or more rushers, the rookie went 14 of 18 for 102 yards. He was magnificent.
The Dolphins reached deep into their bag of tricks to unsettle Jones, calling cornerback blitzes from the short side of the field and multiple defenders from the wide side. They aligned six defenders at the line of scrimmage and would drop half or occasionally brought them all. They mixed zone pressures with man-blitzes, even rushing just three defenders on four occasions.
Jones beat those, too, going 3-of-4 for 33 yards.
“I thought he did a really nice job,” Miami coach Brian Flores said. “Got the ball out, was able to kind of move their offense, pick up first downs, drive them downfield. Yeah, I thought he did a very nice job.”
The most impressive aspect of Jones’ performance wasn’t specifically his passing against the blitz, a widely discussed pregame topic given the Dolphins’ propensity for sending extra rushers. (Miami ran blitzes at the second-highest rate in the NFL last season at 41%.) It was how Jones thrived whenever he was under pressure.
After his startling sack, Jones went 14 of 19 for 102 yards on snaps when he was hurried or hit. He fired several third-down completions in the second, staring down incoming defenders who often leveled him to the turf. The Dolphins hit Jones nine times, but could never keep him down.
“He didn’t really make any mistakes,” Miami safety and former Pats defensive back Jason McCourty said. “He was poised. Even watching him in the huddle getting guys in, yelling, commanding, and a lot of what he looked like in the preseason, is how he performed. He gave his team a chance to win.”
And should again for many Sundays to come.