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Patriots fans and media alike are wondering if rookie quarterback Mac Jones has hit a rookie wall. Let me answer that question. No.
Jones hasn’t hit a wall. The team around him isn’t playing well right now and it is affecting his play.
Jones has struggled because the Patriots have been trailing each of the last two weeks. The Patriots are not built to play from behind but thanks to the defense struggling to get stops early in games, it has put more pressure on Jones and an offense that lacks big play capability.
The Patriots are built to run the football, play good defense and tilt field position on special teams. The defense and special teams have not upheld their end of the bargain the last two weeks and it is impacting the offense.
Jones is not at a place yet in his career where he can consistently lead comebacks. He hasn’t developed enough and the talent around him isn’t good enough to make that happen week in and week out.
Despite the performance of the defense and special teams, Jones does bare some of the responsibility for the Patriots struggles on offense lately.
Defenses have caught up to him. They have enough film on him now that they can game plan their pressure packages better and get to him. Jones is pressing, especially when he’s off his spot. It has clearly affected his accuracy and as a result, he is over throwing receivers.
If the Patriots are going to get back on track, they are doing to need to play better collectively. It’ starts with their defense. They need to be better. So does the offense. Jones and company need to make more big plays. The Patriots need to score more points and it starts with the quarterback.
Getting off to faster starts would help the offense play better. Jones acknowledged as much after the Buffalo game.
“I think just executing better, just whatever the play call is, go out there and do your job. I didn’t do that early on in the game, I didn’t do it throughout the game. You can’t have successful plays when your quarterback’s not doing the right thing, so I have to play better and get the ball to the people that need to get the ball. There’s no excuses.”
He is right. There are no excuses. The league has adjusted to Jones. Now he and the Patriots need to adjust and find a way to get back on track offensively. Mac is no longer a rookie. He has enough experience now that he needs to start playing like he is the man.
The Patriots are his team. It is time he grows up and plays like it. He needs to be elite or else the Patriots have no shot of competing moving forward this season.