Patriots’ Jones not always at fault
■ Mac Jones has thrown 24 interceptions in his two NFL seasons, the 11th-most in that time span. But Pro Football Focus determined that he may be more unlucky than anything. PFF says it charted every NFL throw from the past 17 years, and separated incompletions into four basic categories — quarterback fault (overthrow, underthrow), non-quarterback fault (dropped pass, receiver slipped), defense forced (pass deflection, QB hit as thrown), and miscellaneous (ball hit the referee).
PFF determined that Jones has only been at fault for 38.5 percent of interceptions, which ranks the third lowest, ahead of only Joe Burrow (34.3 percent) and Justin Herbert (37.1 percent).
■ We know the Patriots have been tight-fisted with their roster in recent years — they are 30th in cash spending in 2023, after ranking 27 th last year and 32nd in 2020.
And we discovered two weeks ago, via the Packers, that every team received a check for $374.4 million as their share of the NFL’s national TV money, which was likely more than enough to cover all player costs. Finally, last week came a report from Sportico that the Patriots tied for sixth last year in revenue from ticket sales.
So the TV money is rolling in, and the Patriots are still a hot ticket. Why isn’t money being reinvested in the roster?
■ Really enjoyed the podcast conversation between Rob Gronkowski and Rob Ninkovich last week on “The Dan and Ninko Show.”
Ninkovich questioned Bill Belichick, like the rest of us, when Gronk broke his forearm on an extra point in 2011, an injury that needed several surgeries, got infected, hurt the Patriots’ Super Bowl chances and almost ruined Gronk’s career. “‘Why is Rob Gronkowski on PAT?’ That’s the first thing I said to myself,” Ninkovich said.
Gronkowski and Ninkovich said they used to agree during practices not to go too hard against each other. “Bill would be, ‘[Expletive] pillow fight.’ He knew what we were doing,” Gronk said.
Extra points
The Lions lost tight end Shane Zylstra to a season-ending knee injury last week when he took a low hit from cornerback Khalil Dorsey, and coach Dan Campbell was not happy about it. “No, we’re not OK with that, and it’s been addressed,” he said. “That was preventable. It’s not what we do. And believe me, Khalil feels awful, too. We get that, but we got to take care of each other.”
. . . It seems crazy that Colts rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson waited until last week to have a procedure to fix a deviated septum. Thankfully it only kept him out of practice for a day, but Richardson needs all the work he can get . . . It took 21 seasons (not counting 2020 when there were no fans), but the Lions have sold out Ford Field this year for the first time, and now have a wait list for season tickets for 2024. The Lions haven’t had this much hype and excitement in years, which should worry any long-standing Lions fans . . . Smart move by the NFL to allow CBS to present the Super Bowl in an alternative broadcast — a “Slimecast” on Nickelodeon. It’s a great way to get kids involved and develop the next generation of fans . . . After signing Jacob Hollister last week, the Raiders have 13 ex-Patriots players, eight ex-Patriots coaches, and an ex-Patriots general manager . . . It might finally be time for the NFL to be done with the Hall of Fame Game. No team wants the extra preseason game to begin with, and the showers didn’t work in either locker room following Thursday’s JetsBrowns game, per Pro Football Talk. The game is a tradition that has outlived its usefulness . . . Best wishes to former 16-year NFL quarterback Alex Smith, who said he will be riding all 200-plus miles of this weekend’s Pan Mass Challenge. Smith revealed on 98.5’s “Toucher and Rich” show Thursday that his 7-year-old daughter has had two surgeries in the last year after being diagnosed with a brain tumor, and that 100 percent of his fund-raising will go to Dana Farber’s pediatric neuro-oncology brain tumor clinic.