OT: Are you concerned about Mac Jones?

[msw2112]

I have not seen Jones play much this year.  He was very good at Alabama, but was playing behind an NFL offensive line and had NFL running backs and receivers at his disposal, when the opposition mostly did not.  He appears to be a smart player who is very coachable and has enough athletic ability to do the job.  A competent NFL player, but not likely a star who is going to set the world on fire.  I am not concerned.

 

His college profile is similar to that of Jake Fromm.  Jones was obviously drafted much higher, but who knows, if Fromm had the opportuntity to come to a team with a good defense and running game and was asked to make short throws and be a game manager, perhaps he could do what Jones is doing.  Fromm came to a team where his role was clearly limited to being groomed to be a backup, and the COVID situation last year, plus the availablity of a guy like Trubisky this year, has pushed him down from a #2 to a #3.

Edited September 22, 2021 by msw2112

[LeGOATski]

Just now, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

it’s a smart way to develop Him. But from this, it can go either of two ways:

 

1) Future Tom Brady, or 

 

2) Future Trent Edwards. 

3) Future Matt Cassel.

[Rico]

I believe that if the Bills lose a game right now, they have no one to blame but themselves… so no QB scares me, not even Mac Jones.

[PromoTheRobot]

I'm more concerned the Patriots will revert to some of their previous "tactics" and the league will look the other way, as they have always done.

[Rc2catch]

He’s doing what is asked of him so far. I don’t have anything negative to say. 
But we shouldn’t be concerned with anyone honestly. This team is built to beat anyone. We shouldn’t be in fear or concerned over other teams and certainly not their rookies. 

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

7 minutes ago, LeGOATski said:

3) Future Matt Cassel.

True— that is the middle mediocre “meh” way. Floor is Trent Edwards though, for sure. 

[Gugny]

No.

[oldmanfan]

Not in the slightest.  

[uninja]

[billybob71]

[JaCrispy]

His ball placement appears legit...reminds me of a young Tom Brady 

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

I watched his highlights/ all passes of his first two games. In game 1, he had maybe 1 downfield attempt, and had 2 in week 2. By downfield, I mean about 20 yards. 
 

He seems to Do a nice job at throwing short screens, curls, and dump downs. I suspect the way you confuse him is to run a lot of zone and take away a lot of the underneath stuff, and mix in a lot of confusing pressure looks. 
 

re pressure, he beat the blitz pretty well against Miami, by basically throwing quick dump offs. When the jets blitzed, the pats ran a lot of screens. 
 

I don’t know how he will develop, but I suspect that like any young QB, you can really rattle Him and throw him off his game. 

[dave mcbride]

29 minutes ago, LeGOATski said:

Why?

 

I mean...Matt Cassel went 10-5 with the Pats, with 63% completions and 2:1 int ratio, but took 47 sacks. He was decent, accurate, had plenty of arm, but was a statue. Mac Jones is looking exactly the same. Having a guy like that who doesn't try to overplay his hand definitely puts them in the wild card race.

Cassel was a very, very stiff player with a slow release. Jones is more compact, more fluid, more accurate, and already better at digesting quickly what's in front of him. He's not Michael Vick, but he's clearly better on his feet than Cassel. Cassel had a couple of attributes, but the limits on his game were more numerous than Jones's. Don't forget that the 2008 Pats' roster was coming off a 16-0 season and completely loaded still.

Edited September 22, 2021 by dave mcbride

[mushypeaches]

Always go back to the classic Mike Tyson quote:

 

"everyone has a game plan until they get punched in the mouth"

[Freddie's Dead]

No.

[foreboding]

Who seriously, except Brady, thought he'd Brady would become what he has? The realist in me says Mac Jones is a nice QB...maybe even franchise, in a controlled system. His ceiling is probably Matt Ryan. All in, a solid choice.

[GunnerBill]

49 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

He looks quite good to me. I don't like the fact that he's on the Patriots, that's for sure. Saying he's rag-armed or being set up for success seems akin to whistling past the graveyard to me. He made a lot of great throws at Bama last year that demonstrated he could play.

Disagree. The Pats roster is very strong top to bottom and as I said, he looks good. The Bills can definitely win the division, but they're not a shoo-in. 

He looks much better than Cassel to me. 

 

I agree he looks good. Poised, making smart decisions and accurate. I think his ceiling is a kind of Matt Ryan type and most people would sign up for his career. But the Bills have a better, more talented, guy so I wouldn't say concerned.

[transient]

Am I concerned? It depends, is doughboy near my lunchbox?

 

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

I thought he played alright against Miami with what i saw.  

 

A few things to note - 

• No player on NE has an average depth of target of greater than 8 yards(Buffalo has 4 players, i doubt there's anyone in the league throwing passes shorter than this).  6 of the 8 targeted players have an ADOT of 3 or less.  318 of the 467 yards were yards after the catch.  165 of buffalos 449 passing yards were yards after catch.  
• Jones is averaging 3 air yards per pass attempt.  And completing passes at a little under 3 yards per completion.
• The entire team had 260 yards and 17 first downs against the jets.  That would be worse than the average yardage output that the jets put out in 2020, and just about the same with regards to first downs.  The jets defense is bad.

[Nineforty]

I haven't watched a snap of his yet. So no, I'm not worried, he's trash.