How confident are you now that Mac Jones is “the guy”? 1-10

[sb1]

We haven’t had this poll since October. Figured with 1 regular season complete with our new QB it’s a good time to ask again.

1= not at all
10=completely

How confident are you that Jones is "the guy"?

Now that September is over . . . How confident are you that Mac Jones has the talent to lead this team for the next five years? [Obviously, I would love for it to be longer, but I'll take five years for now.] Please note that this is intended to be purely a question of what Jones has shown in...

www.patsfans.com

 

[sb1]

I’m going with 7. I still think he’s being held back but the regression in December isn’t ideal. I want to see what happens next season.

 

[RobertWeathers]

This is a reasonable question.

What I think is...

Mac will continue to bust his ass to improve
He will improve physically (body, arm strength, etc)
He will become proficient in the trade of being an NFL QB and running this offense at a high level
He will continue to evolve into a solid locker room/NEP culture leader

but I still have questions..

Needs to demonstrate come-from-behind success
Needs to win in the playoffs

I guess i'm a 7.5

 

[TheRainMaker]

5. He needs better talent around him at WR, but he needs to work on getting more zip on his throws and testing more intermediate areas of the field. He got away with teams for some reason ignoring the RB’s in the flat getting so many cheap yards this year.

Matt Casssll expects him to get a QB Coach like he did with Tom House to work on improving aspects of his game which he assumes his arm strength on certain throws.

 

[TheRazorsEdge]

This is a reasonable question.

What I think is...

Mac will continue to bust his ass to improve
He will improve physically (body, arm strength, etc)
He will become proficient in the trade of being an NFL QB and running this offense at a high level
He will continue to evolve into a solid locker room/NEP culture leader

but I still have questions..

Needs to demonstrate come-from-behind success
Needs to win in the playoffs

I guess i'm a 7.5

God damnit. Took the words out my mouth. I'll cosign this.

 

[RobertWeathers]

God damnit. Took the words out my mouth. I'll cosign this.

Mac is Dak Prescott in his rookie year right now. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[Beethree]

I think Mac HAS demonstrated that he has the ability to come from behind. D makes a stop yesterday and they have the ball down by a field goal. But to answer the question, what is "the guy"? An above average starting NFL QB for the next 8 years, or Tom Brady? If the former, 9. If the latter, 1. I think the Pats got lucky with the pick, and he will be a quarterback good enough to contend with on a regular basis and possibly win. I don't think he will be the best QB in the AFC or even in the division for the foreseeable future, though he seems to have the work ethic and the smarts to grow into that.
Next year will tell us a lot, and my money is on the kid.

 

[RIpats88]

Mac is Dak Prescott in his rookie year right now. Nothing wrong with that.

Yup. He has been sufficient. Any rookie is going to have growing pains but he's been more good than bad. I mean to have the second highest completion percentage behind Dak and have almost twice as many tds as picks is pretty good for a rookie.

I will say the kid has a tough work ethic so I think he will work to improve this off-season.

The handwringing from the likes of Adam Jones that yesterday is proof he's not the guy is way over the top. But for some reason he's been sticking to his "Mac Jones is bad" schtick the whole year.

 

[TheRazorsEdge]

Mac is Dak Prescott in his rookie year right now. Nothing wrong with that.

100% .. sounds about right.

We should be celebrating it but you know how it goes...

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

I agree when SB1, 7 is a good number.

I’m going to give Josh credit in how he brought Mac along early in the season but I also feel he’s been too conservative at the moment. Give Mac a little more leash to open up this offense.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Yup. He has been sufficient. Any rookie is going to have growing pains but he's been more good than bad. I mean to have the second highest completion percentage behind Dak and have almost twice as many tds as picks is pretty good for a rookie.

I will say the kid has a tough work ethic so I think he will work to improve this off-season.

In this region, Mac has a PR problem.

Hes not really being compared to rookie QBs

Hes not really being compared to other NFL QBs

Hes being compared to the guy in Tampa Bay and the success enjoyed for 20 years.

 

[jdlboot14]

We were talking about Mac breaking the QB efficiency rating a month ago. It's called a rookie wall and not a Mac Jones wall for a reason - it happens to ROOKIES. He needs to go through the fires of rising intensity and pressure - which this playoff game will also provide.
But all you have to do is look at the other rookie QB's this year, and the bottom 10 veteran starting QB's to judge whether or not he's worthy of going forward as THE guy. He'll be on a rookie contract for 3 more years which will allow the team to build more talent around him, while he'll provide a comparable stability at the position like a Cousins, Tannehill or Ryan. BB can win with that.

 

[Mack Herron]

 

[farn]

8/10

Driven player who’s exceeded most everyone’s expectations despite ups and downs.

 

[Wax Frog]

God damnit. Took the words out my mouth. I'll cosign this.

That's a good thing right? There's enough sane, thoughtful posters on this forum to make life easy for the rest of us

 

[Ivan]

8 He’s never going to match Brady but he’s a winner. He has exceptional touch, game awareness and game management skills. He’s making his rookie mistakes but he learns from them and has the ability to lead his team.

 

[patsinthesnow]

Keep in mind when evaluating Mac that the pats were 2nd in the NFL with 24 rushing TDs. They scored 48 offensive TDs.

They were 11th in yards per play, 6th in PPG & 10th in 3rd down pct. They had an above average offense with Meyers, Bourne & Henry as their top 3 pass catchers.

I’m not sure there is more to squeeze out of this offense with the current personnel. Mac’s biggest improvement will depend on whether they get a #1 option in the passing game.

I’m not sure defenses are adjusting to Mac or their adjusting to the pats offense. Why wouldn’t you play cover 1 against this personnel? He’s completed multiple go routes to Meyers. I think he’s shown the ability to make those throws.

He had a pretty good rookie season all things considered. There were a good chunk of rookie mistakes but he showed the ability to command an offense & high level accuracy. Now it’s on him to improve & the front office to get someone defenses have to pay extra attention to in the passing game.

What I said in a different thread. Mac had a pretty good rookie year & the pats offense got the most out of what they had from their personnel. They had a top 10 offense with no difference maker at WR or TE.

They arguably have everything else offensively. They have a pretty good OL, talented RBs, a #2 WR, a #3 WR & a red zone threat at TE. A #1 option would slot everyone else in to their role IMO.

Here are some young QBs that benefitted from an improvement in their supporting cast after their rookie season:

Joe Burrow 89.8 passer rating to 108.3 - Ja'Marr Chase
Kyler Murray 87.4 to 94.3 - Deandre Hopkins
Josh Allen 85.3 to 107.2 - Stefon Diggs



Mac doesn't have a strong arm. He doesn't have a weak arm. Watch Heinecke, Tua or any of the recent aging QBs such as Big Ben or Rivers for a weak arm. Any slight improvement in arm strength will be what Mac needs to be a franchise QB.

I think fans should be relatively confident. 7 makes sense. I understand the concerns that Mac will never be able to drive a 20+ yard pass with velocity like Herbert, Allen or Tom can but there are successful franchise QBs that are touch passers. Dak is probably the best comparison for his game right now. They both throw with anticipation, are accurate & have underrated mobility (Dak was more of a runner before injury).

Regardless how much Mac improves the pats have to acquire a #1 WR in the draft or FA if they want him to improve significantly IMO.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

This is a reasonable question.

What I think is...

Mac will continue to bust his ass to improve
He will improve physically (body, arm strength, etc)
He will become proficient in the trade of being an NFL QB and running this offense at a high level
He will continue to evolve into a solid locker room/NEP culture leader

but I still have questions..

Needs to demonstrate come-from-behind success
Needs to win in the playoffs

I guess i'm a 7.5

Is it just me or is it every time I am waiting for Mac to get the ball to pull off a comeback, the defense gives up a 1st down. Sure Mac needs more comebacks but has he failed at a comeback attempt yet? There can only be a comeback if there is a defensive stop setting up the comeback.

 

[gtfanboy]

7

 

[slash83]

I’m at a 7 right now.