Is it time for Bill Belichick and the Patriots to ask Mac Jones to take more deep shots?
What do the New England Patriots have in rookie quarterback Mac Jones?
Six weeks into the season, with the team sporting a 2-4 record, it's tough to say.
The blame for their four losses to start the season doesn't entirely fall at the 23-year-old's feet, but neither does the lion's share of the credit for their two victories.
Perhaps that nebulous state is best encapsulated by two plays that occurred on back-to-back possessions for the Pats in their 35-29 overtime loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
With the Pats up by a point and roughly 2:30 left in the game, Jones threw a pick-six to Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs, gifting Dallas a 26-21 lead.
Then, after the Cowboys kicked off, Jones loaded up a 75-yard touchdown heave to Kendrick Bourne, beating Diggs in the process and giving New England a 29-26 lead after a subsequent two-point conversion.
The Boys went on to tie at the end of regulation and win the game in overtime, and Jones’ comments after the loss summed up the razor-thin margins that exist between winning and losing.
"When you look at the big picture, you never want to say you’re close, and it’s hard to do that, but the games that we’ve lost, we’ve been two or three plays away," the 15th pick in the 2021 NFL Draft said. "I guess it’s just how the NFL works, and I’m learning that the hard way."
To look at Jones' season so far, it would seem he stacks up well with his fellow rookie first-round QBs, Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, Justin Fields and Trey Lance. Of that group, Jones is tops in several categories, including passing yards per game (245.3), completion percentage (71.1%) and passer rating (89.6).
However, a deeper dive shows Jones lagging behind in some areas, particularly when it comes to forcing the issue with down-the-field throws.
In the advanced metrics, his 5.4 air yards per completion — which measures how far the ball travels in the air past the line of scrimmage prior to a completion — ranks last among the group of rookies. Among qualified starting QBs, Jones ranks 29th, with 9.8 passing yards per completion.
He did, however, show some growth in that department against the Cowboys. In his first five games of the season, Jones was 4-for-19 on passes that traveled 20-plus yards in the air. On Sunday, he went 4-for-4 on those plays, tossing two TDs in the process.
Given those flashes of big-play potential, should Bill Belichick and New England's offensive coaching staff take Jones' training wheels off, so to speak? That was a topic of discussion Monday on "First Things First", with varying assessments of what the QB brings to the table.
Kevin Wildes said Jones' final stat line for Sunday's game — 15-for-21 for 229 yards, two touchdowns, one interception and a 118.9 passer rating — left him begging for the QB to "cook" a little bit more.
"That's like getting perfect attendance and then just getting Cs," Wildes said. "It's like, yeah, one thing is really good, but the thing that actually matters — you're not really achieving what you want. He threw the ball 21 times. Dak threw the ball 51 times. … Air the thing out, for the love of God!"
Chris Broussard also said he wants to see more of Jones in the kitchen.
"He is the only rookie quarterback of the first-round draftees who has hit [a] 100 [passer rating], and he's done it three times." Broussard said. "… This kid's got the goods, Nick. You need to jump on the bandwagon now."
However, Nick Wright — the "Nick" Broussard was addressing — explained why he is content to remain off the Jones bandwagon.
"At one point during the broadcast, [CBS commentator] Jim Nantz said these two sentences in order, and these should never happen: 'Mac Jones is 10-for-11 passing. The Patriots are 0-for-5 on third downs.' Huh? How is that true?" Wright asked. "Because it was all spoon-fed nonsense, as it has been all year long."
With 11 games left in the regular season, there is plenty of time for Jones and the Patriots to air it out, as the QB was perhaps starting to do on Sunday.
If he can add the deep ball to his repertoire while maintaining his other laudable statistics, Jones could find a few more believers in his corner.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this story.
