Mac Jones, Patriots underwhelming
The Mac Jones hype train has slowed to a halt, I presume? What ugly football the Patriots continue to play as this rookie QB takes his lumps.
I was way off on this team. They are not special in any regard, the post-Tom Brady era is not going well for Bill Belichick and I remain unimpressed with this group overall. The defense is not fearsome in any regard and they are incredibly limited on offense. So much for Foxboro being some sort of fortress; the Pats got punked by the Dolphins and Saints already at home and struggled to truly put the lowly Jets away despite Zach Wilson handing them the ball four times.
For all the talk about Jones being superior to other kid QBs in his decision making, he sure threw up some jump balls Sunday and looked really jittery against the Saints pressure. They had 68 net yards at the two-minute warning of the first half, trailing by multiple scores and effectively out of hope in a game in which the rookie QB was picked off three times. The offensive line has not been good, they do not run the ball with the power and effectiveness of a year ago (when they were by no means world-beaters but had Cam to open things up) and Jones led them with 28 ground yards on six carries against the Saints. Woof.
Long-term, he'll probably be fine, I guess. But, continuing a trend here, you gonna tell me this offense would be worse with an athlete like Cam Newton at the helm? What happened to this revved up passing game, with them spending all that money on receivers and tight ends? The trio of Hunter Henry, Jonnu Smith and Nelson Agholor have combined for a grand total of 45 catches for 290 yards (6.44 yards per catch!) and one touchdown reception through three football games. That is three free agents through nine combined man games. That is awful. The trio amassed eight catches for 57 yards TOTAL on Sunday.
The Pats couldn't crack 50 yards rushing as a team. Good luck with that. I thought this was a wild-card team. I was probably way off on that.
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