I am basically done with Harry but he does have a pretty large catch radius. If he has any sort of shot at making the team, those are the kind of passes he needs to showcase what made him a 1st round pick in the 1st place.
I'm done with him too, but if he's suddenly good I'm suddenly interested. Meh. Who know.
A subtle nuance here when we're talking about Mac taking over once he's better than Cam: One of the most important things for Belichick is consistency. So in order for Mac to overtake Newton as the starter, he's not only going to have to show that he's better than him right away, but is then going to have to show he's better than him over a consistent stretch of time. This is the biggest hurdle for Mac to overcome to start week 1, because there's not a ton of time for him to string together enough noticeably superior weeks for BB to pull the trigger. Whatever period of time the coaching staff has in its head (if there's an actual number), may be longer than the preseason for all we know.
Wellllll I guess Cam had
that going for him last year
Seriously, I know you're talking about this year, but they both have that "consistent value" to prove. The difference is, with Cam you're breaking a disposable toy if he's not keeping up with game speed. (One where you've already patched up a couple pieces of the action figure with plastic wood.)
Cam was consistent most of last year, but mainly consistently bad in the passing game. I mean, now and then he flirted with adequacy, but really? He was bad. We know there might be reasons. It would have been nice if he got all 2015 on everybody. But with QBs not named Brady, 5 years makes a difference. I think that's what we were seeing, including various injuries. But hey, he might get a chance to prove that wrong. Either way, my main point here is that he's not supposed to be the future.
But with Mac, if you put him in as the starter, the pressure is on him to be good
now. TFB got his shot with minimal pressure. He was a 6th rounder who then earned the no. 2 spot, then when circumstances made it unavoidable to put him in, he outperformed -- just by game managing really well. And those Patriots were a decent team, sometimes, but not some kind of perennial powerhouse or ring-laden dynasty. That was Arthur Love and Antowain Smith, not Rob Gronkowski and [your favorite committee leader here--I'ma say Lagarette Blount]. Granted, after 2020, Cam has given Mac some leeway in terms of expectations. But still. Big shoes.
We all can all sit gelatinously behind our screens and say that Mac should be mentally tough etc. etc. And I also want to open the new-in-box toy... but there is no point in taking chances if he's
not up to speed.
If Cam fails, it's fine. Next year the dinged up Superman doll takes his act on the road or he hangs 'em up, whatever. If he succeeds, maybe there's upside elsewhere in the league.
If Mac fails you've dinged him up, if only mentally (although physical dings are also likely if he's just not game-ready yet.) We don't want to turn into the JEST, where they break QBs for entertainment (actually, mainly to inflict misery on @Jetsfan79). Hey I never asked if that 79 is the year of his birth. That's a round 10 years beyond the arguable relevance of his lifelong favorite team. But I digress...
I mean, if we just have to play him, I'm not ROOTING for Mac-10 to hold the clipboard... the day he starts I'll be raving about how it's time to see what we've got. But I can also understand erring on the side of caution.
