The optimistic case for Mac Jones

[Kasmir]

Both the anti-BB and pro-Zappe camps here are going to hate this, but I think this guy's video is a good presentation of reasons for optimism about Mac for next year:

Why Mac Jones is STILL The Future of the New England Patriots Mac Jones 2023 season is going to prove all the haters WRONG Why I still believe in Mac Jones! Mac Jones will be a star QB in 2023 Mitch of TheBottomLineView discusses Mac Jones REVENGE season coming up 2023. Teaming up with Bill O’Brien will be a blessing for young mac who had to deal with the horrible matt patricia offense in 2022. People forget how good he was as a rookie! Mitch defends his QB Mac Jones and gives you his opinion on why Mac will be a star for new england in the future

Why Mac Jones is STILL The Future of the New England Patriots

Why Mac Jones is STILL The Future of the New England PatriotsMac Jones 2023 season is going to prove all the haters WRONGWhy I still believe in Mac Jones! Ma...

www.youtube.com

 

[maust]

Well, everyone needs something to believe in.
Right now I believe I'll have another drink, maybe get some popcorn.

 

[Bourne Again Christian]

When I see Mac have velocity on his throws and I don’t have to hold my breath every time he throws to the sideline anticipating a pick 6.
Then in will believe he can be the guy.

 

[JR52]

When I see Mac have velocity on his throws and I don’t have to hold my breath every time he throws to the sideline anticipating a pick 6.
Then in will believe he can be the guy.

But bro, he had that one ball that had zip on it and it was in a tight window. Video evidence.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

I believe in Mac

 

[TheRainMaker]

Bill O'Brien had mediocre offenses in Houston and never averaged more than 25 points per game during his stint. He had Watson from 2017 through 4 games in 2020 before getting fired.

Alabama fans were glad he left.

Mac doesn't have anywhere near the talent Watson had and the current skill position players in NE isn't good. Some of you guys are in real denial of expectations for this team going forward.

 

[FCB02062]

it has nothing to do w anti-BB or pro Zappe. if you have eyes and a brain you could tell Jones can be, at the very least, an adequate NFL starter who can win (and maybe more importantly NOT LOSE games for the club) when surrounded by competent coaching and NFL skill position talent.
The coaching needs to be more play to win than play not to lose, as it was most of last year when we had certain people on here circle jerking FOLK!!! and his field goals

 

[Bourne Again Christian]

it has nothing to do w anti-BB or pro Zappe. if you have eyes and a brain you could tell Jones can be, at the very least, an adequate NFL starter who can win (and maybe more importantly NOT LOSE games for the club) when surrounded by competent coaching and NFL skill position talent.
The coaching needs to be more play to win than play not to lose, as it was most of last year when we had certain people on here circle jerking FOLK!!! and his field goals

Is this good enough to win a world title?
Is this good enough to win more than 1 playoff game.
When we are behind 20 points in the third is the other team nervous because number 10 is back there.
If the answer is no, then you keep trying til you find that guy.
Mac is a expendable employee.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Is this good enough to win a world title?
Is this good enough to win more than 1 playoff game.
When we are behind 20 points in the third is the other team nervous because number 10 is back there.
If the answer is no, then you keep trying til you find that guy.
Mac is a expendable employee.

an expendable employee. Damn.

anyway, no. You check variables, especially when you're throwing away a no. 15 overall pick if you're wrong.

Fixing the offensive coaching staff and reinforcing the O line should show us a big improvement. If not, he's crippled without mega spend at WR... and that's bad. Actually, he's got guys who could be pretty effective if he is effective, in terms of weapons. But throw in a shiny toy if you really want to test the "Mac can't play after freshman year" hypothesis.

I think you're just wrong. Last year's not his cieling. OTOH... <gulp>... it might not be his floor either.

 

[Triumph]

But bro, he had that one ball that had zip on it and it was in a tight window. Video evidence.

No

There was like 8 or 9 bigtime throws on a rope. Plus, BOB will call plays in 2023 where the ball is perfect everytime.

 

[Kasmir]

Is this good enough to win a world title?
Is this good enough to win more than 1 playoff game.
When we are behind 20 points in the third is the other team nervous because number 10 is back there.
If the answer is no, then you keep trying til you find that guy.
Mac is a expendable employee.

Mac is very comparable to Tua obviously, given the A/B comparison at Alabama. Tua is another QB who had his reputation damaged, but injuries aside he's been playing very well now that he has Waddle and Tyreek Hill. This year he was actually 2nd in DVOA and 4th in DYAR.

Mac is also a very similar QB to Burrow; they both were highly accurate college QBs. Burrow was nothing special his rookie year, but has obviously been elevated by the addition of Chase. Burrow is probably the closest physically and stylistically to Mac.

Mac clearly has a top-10 QB upside, especially given the addition of a true #1 WR. My only question is whether he was "broken" by this last terrible year of terrible coaching, bad OL play and injury: can he stop running scared of being crushed and injured by the pass rush? He'll see nothing but pressure until he can demonstrate composure and make defenses pay for pressuring him. Better coaching will help, as will better OL play. A game breaking WR would obviously be tremendous. But it will still come down to whether Mac can regain his composure and courage.

 

[Triumph]

Bill O'Brien had mediocre offenses in Houston and never averaged more than 25 points per game during his stint. He had Watson from 2017 through 4 games in 2020 before getting fired.

Alabama fans were glad he left.

Mac doesn't have anywhere near the talent Watson had and the current skill position players in NE isn't good. Some of you guys are in real denial of expectations for this team going forward.

Mac is a good check down dink and dunker. Thats his A game in the NFL where everyone is fast and good. At Alabama he could excel because he was surrounded by top round NFL talent. 8 Alabama players were picked within the first 38 selections of the 2021 NFL draft. Corky included.

He is a Game Manager type thats happy to get a Field Goal from a drive. For the Pats to have any chance at all there must be a good run game and defense which the Pats have had since Jones was drafted. The problem isnt the OC because Jones did not execute the plays that were there for the taking in 2022. For instance, the INT that should have been TD to Parker @ Miami. That was a TD if the ball is thrown in front of Parker instead of behind Parker. The exact same short arm throw was made to Agholor in the 2021 postseason game vs Buffalo. That should have been a TD as well. Jones short armed a throw to Agholor vs Pittsburgh in 2022 only this time Agholor fought off the DB and came down the ball resulting in a TD.

I'm hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst.

 

[RIpats88]

This thread is going to devolve into the same 3 posters shouting "Mac sucks!"

Anyone saying they know what Mac is already and should be jettisoned after 2 seasons(one in an incredibly dysfunctional offense) has no idea about football.

But these are the same people declaring Zappe the answer after he played essentially 4 games. 2 against the worse defenses at that time.

Now I'm not saying Mac IS the answer or Zappe ISNT. I'm just saying In watching the NFL for years I've seen plenty of QBs make big jumps in year 3(see Tua, hurts for recent examples) who were "on their way out" of their old teams. And I've seen plenty of average QBs (see minshew,heineke for recent examples) flame out after having MUCH better and Longer stretches than zappe put together.

 

[RIpats88]

Is this good enough to win a world title?
Is this good enough to win more than 1 playoff game.
When we are behind 20 points in the third is the other team nervous because number 10 is back there.
If the answer is no, then you keep trying til you find that guy.
Mac is a expendable employee.

So if a QB is not fully developed after their second year, especially if we know it was in such dysfunction as our offense was they should be jettisoned?

We should draft and dump QBs every 3rd year? There would be A LOT of good QBs we would've drafted and let go too early if you run a team like that.

 

[RIpats88]

Bill O'Brien had mediocre offenses in Houston and never averaged more than 25 points per game during his stint. He had Watson from 2017 through 4 games in 2020 before getting fired.

Alabama fans were glad he left.

Mac doesn't have anywhere near the talent Watson had and the current skill position players in NE isn't good. Some of you guys are in real denial of expectations for this team going forward.

We had receivers running into each other, running the same routes. Coaches who ran a "Madden playbook" didn't adjust for what the other team did. Didn't even coach play action schemes

And this is your take? O'Brien sucks? I think our expectation is if we have a real OC running a real NFL offense we will at the very least look like 2021. A year Mac had 22 tds and was a promising rookie and we made the playoffs.

 

[sb1]

This thread is going to devolve into the same 3 posters shouting "Mac sucks!"

Anyone saying they know what Mac is already and should be jettisoned after 2 seasons(one in an incredibly dysfunctional offense) has no idea about football.

But these are the same people declaring Zappe the answer after he played essentially 4 games. 2 against the worse defenses at that time.

4 games and only one of them was any good. Even Mike White had a good game for the Jets and it was a lot better than Zappe’s best. If BB thought Zappe was starter worthy he would have made the move already.

I’m ready to say Zappe isn’t the answer based on that sample size and his arm which to date isn’t up to NFL standards as a starting QB prospect.

 

[sb1]

Bill O'Brien had mediocre offenses in Houston and never averaged more than 25 points per game during his stint. He had Watson from 2017 through 4 games in 2020 before getting fired.

Alabama fans were glad he left.

Mac doesn't have anywhere near the talent Watson had and the current skill position players in NE isn't good. Some of you guys are in real denial of expectations for this team going forward.

On the flip side of that O’Brien unleashed the 2 TE set that took the league by storm in 2011 and gave Brady his first 5K+ yard passing season and the Patriots to a top 3 offense. Obviously we don’t have the caliber of TEs now that we do then but I’m confident we’ll have an offense that plays to everyone’s strengths.

 

[1960Pats]

Both the anti-BB and pro-Zappe camps here are going to hate this, but I think this guy's video is a good presentation of reasons for optimism about Mac for next year:

Why Mac Jones is STILL The Future of the New England Patriots

Why Mac Jones is STILL The Future of the New England PatriotsMac Jones 2023 season is going to prove all the haters WRONGWhy I still believe in Mac Jones! Ma...

www.youtube.com

Why would any Pats fan hate a positive article about Jones?

 

[archstanton543]

Why would any Pats fan hate a positive article about Jones?

Some Boston sports fans love being miserable. Some fell hard for Zappe last year and it clouds their judgement.

Some are a combination of both.

 

[1960Pats]

Bill's penchant for dumping superior talent to save money combined with his less than stellar drafts lately has me less optimistic.