Film Snapshots: Patriots QBs Mac Jones vs Bailey Zappe

[PatsFans.com Article]

Film Snapshots: Patriots QBs Mac Jones vs Bailey Zappe
Ian Logue
One thing that's been interesting to follow has been Dan Orlovsky's breakdown of the spacing in New England's offense, with Orlovsky pointing out an interesting fact as it pertains to some of the issues that have made things challenging for Mac Jones in recent weeks.

The post Film Snapshots: Patriots QBs Mac Jones vs Bailey Zappe appeared first on PatsFans.com.

Continue reading...

(If you enjoyed this entry - hit the Thumbs Up/If not, hit the Thumbs down in this thread)

 

[Ian]

I snapped each player at the end of their respective dropbacks, and this essentially shows what each player was up against in terms of guys who had turned around, had an open look, etc. It was obviously a little bit of work, but hopefully, people find it interesting.

 

[Ian]

Here's a full-screen version to make things a little easier for people:

PatsFans.com - Mac Jones vs Bailey Zappe Spacing

www.patsfans.com

 

[PatsFan2]

Great job Ian: the bye week came at the perfect time if you ask me Mac needs to brush up on a lot of things. I personally feel Jones doesn't see field all that well and is a little nervous to make certain stick throws due to his Interceptions. It's obvious Zappe wasn't having those Mac Jones problems which shows he saw the field a lot better and doesn't seem as nervous. I hope Mac Jones is on a very short leash in the second half if he's still struggling: we want to get to the dance anything can happen.

 

[venecol]

Context would be helpful: Some of Jones' guys were wide open so why was it incomplete: overthrow, under-throw, PD?

Some of these are timing routes, so even if receiver wasn't looking back, Mac needs to throw the ball.
For example, I see complete passes by Zappe, where receiver wasn't looking back.
Some of the sacks were coverage sacks.
I see a lot of Mac focusing on his receivers.

 

[Pape]

you write:
"players haven’t even turned their heads yet, forcing Jones to hold the ball slightly longer than he wants"

shouldn't anticipation and timing patterns be at play here?

if the ball isnt thrown by the receiver reaches the "top of their route" ie turn their heads, its possibly a signal that protection has broken down, then they turn and come back to the ball to make it easier for the qb to get rid of the ball... or at least thats how its supposed to work in theory, i think...

so it a timing issue? is it a protection issue? is it a trust issue on Macs part?

and this is where i see a main difference between Mac and Zappe... Zappe has better anticipation and a willingness to throw the ball, whereas Mac, bitten by the interception bug, isn't putting his faith in his guys to be there... or am I mis-reading the situation?

 

[Love The Drake]

you write:
"players haven’t even turned their heads yet, forcing Jones to hold the ball slightly longer than he wants"

shouldn't anticipation and timing patterns be at play here?

if the ball isnt thrown by the receiver reaches the "top of their route" ie turn their heads, its possibly a signal that protection has broken down, then they turn and come back to the ball to make it easier for the qb to get rid of the ball... or at least thats how its supposed to work in theory, i think...

so it a timing issue? is it a protection issue? is it a trust issue on Macs part?

and this is where i see a main difference between Mac and Zappe... Zappe has better anticipation and a willingness to throw the ball, whereas Mac, bitten by the interception bug, isn't putting his faith in his guys to be there... or am I mis-reading the situation?

We can just some it up by saying Zappe for whatever reason we want to say paint or take a guess ar was more effective white the same kind of offense and the same or similar players around him.
Make of that what you will.

 

[Ian]

you write:
"players haven’t even turned their heads yet, forcing Jones to hold the ball slightly longer than he wants"

shouldn't anticipation and timing patterns be at play here?

if the ball isnt thrown by the receiver reaches the "top of their route" ie turn their heads, its possibly a signal that protection has broken down, then they turn and come back to the ball to make it easier for the qb to get rid of the ball... or at least thats how its supposed to work in theory, i think...

so it a timing issue? is it a protection issue? is it a trust issue on Macs part?

and this is where i see a main difference between Mac and Zappe... Zappe has better anticipation and a willingness to throw the ball, whereas Mac, bitten by the interception bug, isn't putting his faith in his guys to be there... or am I mis-reading the situation?

Both Bedard and Orlovsky have questioned the offense with Mac due to the timing and the spacing, which has them questioning the coaching. My biggest question was that, along with just how different things were with Zappe, and why things look so different with Mac. So based on Orlovsky pointing out the drop point and the spacing, the only way to find out was to grab a snapshot of every play in each of their recent starts of the moment they hit their drop, and the ball is supposed to be out.

It's pretty noticeable. More guys are freed up and/or looking back for the ball in those plays with Zappe than with Jones, and the spacing is definitely questionable on a few of those. Obviously, only the people who created the plays and the guys running them truly know the answer, but given Mac's recent "false realities" quotes (he's used that multiple times), it's tough not to think there's something to it.

Again, you can't - and shouldn't because he plays for this team - discount Zappe because it doesn't change the fact he executed what was given to him. That and it's possible, depending on how things go, that he could be the starter down the road. However, the way those plays were drawn up in what he ran, guys were in the right spot and ready for the football. But there's no question based on the images that obviously, it's not 100% the same plays, which was one of the things I was trying to get clarification on.

There were also a few plays with Mac where people claimed there were other places he could have gone, but there just wasn't time because Wynn really did a bad job at guard Sunday on several plays (you can see it in at least one of those stills). He had zero time to turn and reset his feet, and he sort of touched on that yesterday in his press conference. Zappe's sacks were also the same thing, he just had no chance. This line is just bad right now, which isn't helping things and we all know they don't play well when they can't effectively run the football, which has also been an issue.

 

[PatsFan2]

you write:
"players haven’t even turned their heads yet, forcing Jones to hold the ball slightly longer than he wants"

shouldn't anticipation and timing patterns be at play here?

if the ball isnt thrown by the receiver reaches the "top of their route" ie turn their heads, its possibly a signal that protection has broken down, then they turn and come back to the ball to make it easier for the qb to get rid of the ball... or at least thats how its supposed to work in theory, i think...

so it a timing issue? is it a protection issue? is it a trust issue on Macs part?

and this is where i see a main difference between Mac and Zappe... Zappe has better anticipation and a willingness to throw the ball, whereas Mac, bitten by the interception bug, isn't putting his faith in his guys to be there... or am I mis-reading the situation?

I'll take the latter.

 

[Pape]

We can just some it up by saying Zappe for whatever reason we want to say paint or take a guess ar was more effective white the same kind of offense and the same or similar players around him.
Make of that what you will.

There will always be a difference in talent between players, no doubt... but if it's more than that, The danger becomes having a fundamental flaw in the coaching , play design, play calling, whatever, it can become a systemic issue down the road... The disconnect needs to be diagnosed and eliminated, if possible.

 

[Pape]

I'll take the latter.

That I'm misreading the situation? Could be ... That's why I asked

 

[Ian]

There will always be a difference in talent between players, no doubt... but if it's more than that, The danger becomes having a fundamental flaw in the coaching , play design, play calling, whatever, it can become a systemic issue down the road... The disconnect needs to be diagnosed and eliminated, if possible.

That's one thing I feel like people are forgetting is that even if Zappe ends up being the starter, he's still potentially facing the same handicap since I think most people probably feel the same way in terms of making a similar argument about the second half of the Chicago game.

 

[Pape]

Great article / thread topic @Ian

 

[Zuma]

Mac is thinking waaaay too much. For whatever reason he is not able to process in year 2 like he did in year 1. Maybe Zappe will have the same problem next year. Mac puts the hours in and cares just as much as the next guy…but IMO he needs to just “let it fly” . Patricia might be a great OC for experienced QB’s like Brady but rookies…I’m not sure his tutelage always works.

 

[Pape]

Mac is thinking waaaay too much. For whatever reason he is not able to process in year 2 like he did in year 1. Maybe Zappe will have the same problem next year. Mac puts the hours in and cares just as much as the next guy…but IMO he needs to just “let it fly” . Patricia is a great OC for experienced QB’s like Brady but rookies…I’m not sure his tutelage always works.

i think you are right... at some point its just gotta be "play football"

 

[Ross12]

Mac is thinking waaaay too much. For whatever reason he is not able to process in year 2 like he did in year 1. Maybe Zappe will have the same problem next year. Mac puts the hours in and cares just as much as the next guy…but IMO he needs to just “let it fly” . Patricia is a great OC for experienced QB’s like Brady but rookies…I’m not sure his tutelage always works.

The more I’ve watched Mac this year, the more I’ve come to the realization that he is pretty much a “gunslinger.” He can make adjustments before the ball is snapped pretty well and move guys around, but once the ball is snapped, he is not showing a particularly good ability to think and move at the same time. It needs to be instinctual for him - he needs to be able to play without thinking when it’s live-fire.

I don’t think that’s really the guy we all hoped for but that’s the guy we have. And IMO we should probably let him be who he is if we want to go anywhere, even if that does mean more picks.

I think they were letting Mac be Mac more in the beginning of the season, particularly the Baltimore game, and he showed great stuff but also some bad. Hopefully over time there would be less bad.

 

[moosekill]

The more I’ve watched Mac this year, the more I’ve come to the realization that he is pretty much a “gunslinger.” He can make adjustments before the ball is snapped pretty well and move guys around, but once the ball is snapped, he is not showing a particularly good ability to think and move and the same time. It needs to be instinctual for him - he needs to be able to play without thinking when it’s live-fire.

I don’t think that’s really the guy we all hoped for but that’s the guy we have. And IMO we should probably let him be who he is if we want to go anywhere, even if that does mean more picks.

I think they were letting Mac be Mac more in the beginning of the season, particularly the Baltimore game, and he showed great stuff but also some bad. Hopefully over time there would be less bad.

Thing is, he looked better last season, even at the end of the season when they were struggling more. Some stupid football movie from years ago talked about quicksand. At some point things start going down and you start struggling, the more you struggle the worse it gets. Mac looks like he is stuck in quicksand right now. He is overthinking what he is doing and the more he thinks about it the harder it gets to play well. Hopefully he will come out of it quickly. It is to bad the games he missed were against the teams that probably could have helped him get his confidence back.

 

[catent]

Agreed that Mac's natural disposition is to be a gunslinger. He needs to go out there and sling it without a ton of structure. I think we saw that uninhibited earlier in the season.

My concern is that his timing/mechanics/ball velocity is not good enough to allow him to play a gunslinging style at the NFL level (as of now, at least) without throwing a lot of interceptions (similar to what we saw earlier this season).

Now - over the past two weeks - we're getting a much more conservative Mac who's consciously making an effort to not turn the ball over, and we see a player who looks really limited.

 

[moosekill]

I didn't really see the gunslinger in the clips from college, so I am not really sure where this is coming from. He wasn't a gunslinger last year and looked pretty good. He tried to open up this year and has struggled throwing inteceptions, but that doesn't make him a gunslinger.