Mike Lombardi: "Be Patient with Mac Jones" (no need to rush)

[BaconGrundleCandy]

What would you have him do. Nothing has warranted a change in starting QB based on practice or 2 preseason games. Now you're just criticizing the nature of preseason itself.

Belichick does put the best team on the field. He's always done this. He's objective and ruthless and it doesn't matter if you're a 7th round pick or undrafted guy playing over a 1st round pick or a guy with a bigger contract.

So this will be really fun seeing you trying to reconcile this when Bill Belichick starts Cam Newton as QB as he has been saying over and over.


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Not for andy. When 8-ring Belichick starts Cam he's going to insist Belichick is wrong. Unfortunately I think a couple here will be perversely rooting for the Pats to play poorly when Cam starts.

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I expect the Pats to win while the media acts toxic and half the fan base is basically cheering for Cam to fail and for Mac to play. This team is contructed to go really far and possibly win it all, but will likely implode and self destruct via its toxic media and fanbase around the QB situation.

I would share your perspective if I were more skeptical of Cam. I just think the guy can surprise people this year. Feel good about this Pats roster and schedule and I'm gonna call it now, there will be some weird patsfan forum emotions from people as they grapple with being a Pats fan and winning versus their hate for Cam Newton.

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Yea right. Will be interesting to see you struggle as the Pats win with Cam but you don't want that to be happening.

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Very toxic. Very weird. We all know you hate Mac but he's the starting QB now. We should all be behind him.

Mac attack, Mac attack, Mac attack ...

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Well, Bill is ruthless and it appears based on his expert opinion, Cam wasn't cutting it. Fair enough. I think Cam missing a week completely screwed him over. The travel out of state and not being vaccinated, created a golden opportunity which Mac took 100% advantage of, good for the kid to be clutch like that.

I think the title of this still holds. This team isn't going to win a ring with a rookie QB. With the massive free agency overhaul the team could still win 10 games which would be a very good season. Mac will likely take over 45 sacks as he sees new defenses every week, maybe something along the lines of 200 yards per week, 1.5 TDs on average would be an excellent season which would be around 3200 yards and 24 TDs in a 16-game season.

This is a development year. No rookie QB has ever done it all the way and for good reason.

 

[amfootball]

Well, Bill is ruthless and it appears based on his expert opinion, Cam wasn't cutting it. Fair enough. I think Cam missing a week completely screwed him over. The travel out of state and not being vaccinated, created a golden opportunity which Mac took 100% advantage of, good for the kid to be clutch like that.

I think the title of this still holds. This team isn't going to win a ring with a rookie QB. With the massive free agency overhaul the team could still win 10 games which would be a very good season. Mac will likely take over 45 sacks as he sees new defenses every week, maybe something along the lines of 200 yards per week, 1.5 TDs on average would be an excellent season which would be around 3200 yards and 24 TDs in a 16-game season.

This is a development year. No rookie QB has ever done it all the way and for good reason.

They definitely were not winning anything with Cam.

 

[Ring 6]

Not for andy. When 8-ring Belichick starts Cam he's going to insist Belichick is wrong. Unfortunately I think a couple here will be perversely rooting for the Pats to play poorly when Cam starts.

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So it appears I am not going to say 8 ring belichick was wrong. Because he did what I expected him to do.

Are you going to say 8 ring belichick was wrong since you were adamant he should start the guy he chose to pay to leave?

 

[DropKickFlutie]

So it appears I am not going to say 8 ring belichick was wrong. Because he did what I expected him to do.

Are you going to say 8 ring belichick was wrong since you were adamant he should start the guy he chose to pay to leave?

I'm not gonna defend Cam after he lost a week due to being unvaccinated. I know it must be weird for you since you're such a big anti-vaxxer.

Big props to Mac Jones for doing like the 8Mile song and playing clutch during his week to shine. That made a huge huge difference.

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

Are we pretending Bill didn't know Cam was unvaccinated up until a week ago? Maybe that made it reality but with all the protocols and rules, players wanting to express their opinions and Bill being Bill. He knew about Cam.

I can't believe it though. Cam was throwing those wicked fast bullet passes guys.

 

[PatsDeb]

LOL, in the words of Bugs Bunny, "He don't know us very well, do he?"

 

[Kasmir]

I think the one concern that many of us have with Mac is his physical ability to last up to 20 more games. Even without the playoffs he will start more games this season than he has in his whole Alabama career. That was the primary argument IMO for starting the season with Cam.

That said I think Mac is great and will do well here.

 

[TheRainMaker]

I don’t get why he needs to sit as he’s shown more than enough in the preseason.

The days of sitting have been long gone with the rule changes and the ability for teams to get open.

 

[BobDigital]

I think the one concern that many of us have with Mac is his physical ability to last up to 20 more games. Even without the playoffs he will start more games this season than he has in his whole Alabama career. That was the primary argument IMO for starting the season with Cam.

That said I think Mac is great and will do well here.

A lot of people have said this, but I'm not really concerned about it. We've all seen all types. Big bodied QBs, small QBs, super athletic QBs, nonathletic QBs. And we've seenthem all have long careers and short careers. To me it comes down to how the QB plays the game compared to their body size. Being a super athletic QB should be a huge advantage as far as health. But do to being that athletic they often run around and try to go for a lot of yards on the ground. So in a sense, the better athlete you are, the more likely you tend to be to get hurt. Then you have big body QBs. Again it depends. If you know you can take some hits and you depend on your big strong frame to save you from injury, then you can end up like the ever injured Ben Roethlisberger.

Small QBs should absolutely get killed. But many of the smallest QBs tend to have the longest career and fewest health issues because they get rid of the ball and decide not to take hits. The same is true for many nonathletic QBs. The question is, will Mac learn that he has to get rid of the ball and give up on plays? I think he will. Also, he needs to learn how to fall and slide. This is something we don't see practiced on the field, but it's an important skill to learn. And coaches should be teaching it. I don't think many do though.

 

[Kasmir]

A lot of people have said this, but I'm not really concerned about it. We've all seen all types. Big bodied QBs, small QBs, super athletic QBs, nonathletic QBs. And we've seenthem all have long careers and short careers. To me it comes down to how the QB plays the game compared to their body size. Being a super athletic QB should be a huge advantage as far as health. But do to being that athletic they often run around and try to go for a lot of yards on the ground. So in a sense, the better athlete you are, the more likely you tend to be to get hurt. Then you have big body QBs. Again it depends. If you know you can take some hits and you depend on your big strong frame to save you from injury, then you can end up like the ever injured Ben Roethlisberger.

Small QBs should absolutely get killed. But many of the smallest QBs tend to have the longest career and fewest health issues because they get rid of the ball and decide not to take hits. The same is true for many nonathletic QBs. The question is, will Mac learn that he has to get rid of the ball and give up on plays? I think he will. Also, he needs to learn how to fall and slide. This is something we don't see practiced on the field, but it's an important skill to learn. And coaches should be teaching it. I don't think many do though.

I didn't mean to imply I'm concerned about his physical stature and measurables. I think he'll be fine that way. I'm more worried about physical conditioning and resistance to physical and mental fatigue as the season grinds on: the infamous Rookie Wall. Admittedly that's a generic concern with all rookie QB's.