Mac Jones and the New England Patriots suffered their next straight reduction of the period in Week 2 against the Miami Dolphins, and it was a contest that felt much way too very similar for the Pats and their supporters. New England fell behind early, managed to rally late in the activity, but viewed their comeback endeavor drop small the moment once again. Sound acquainted?
If it does, that is because, properly, that’s really a great deal been the tale whenever the Patriots get rid of a close, really hard-fought video game. New England shed this sport 24-17, but there was not considerably to differentiate it from their year-opening decline to the Philadelphia Eagles. Fairly considerably the actual identical script took position in that game, and you can trace this sample all the way back to Jones’ rookie time in 2021.
Jones is not totally culpable for New England’s lack of ability to pull out victories in close games, but his ongoing failure to provide late in the video game has practically produced him the polar opposite of his predecessor Tom Brady, irrespective of their a lot of shared physical characteristics. Jones is nevertheless young, but at some issue, the Patriots require him to switch these shut losses with moral victories into game titles they really get.
Mac Jones wants to prove he can supply in the clutch for the Patriots
To this stage in his profession, Jones hasn’t seriously had a defining victory in the NFL. Everytime he gets the ball with a chance to entire a comeback, the offense sputters. In 7 days 1, Kayshon Boutte couldn’t retain his toes inbounds on a capture that would have converted 4th & 11 and set New England at the Eagles 8-yard line with just below 30 seconds left in the match. In 7 days 2, Mike Gesicki came up just shorter of the sticks on 4th & 4, and his magnificent lateral to Cole Unusual ended up currently being just inches small much too.
In the course of the very first two seasons and two weeks of Jones’ job, when New England wins, they are commonly profitable large. The regular margin of victory during the 1st 16 wins of Jones’ profession is 18.5 points, which suggests that the Patriots can comfortably dismantle inferior opponents. On the other hand, while, the normal margin of defeat for Jones in his 17 losses has been 9 points, with 8 of all those losses being by seven details or fewer.
This is a roundabout way of saying that in game titles wherever the Patriots have a chance to right their wrongs from earlier in the sport, Jones hasn’t been equipped to provide. It is really a stark contrast from when Brady was below center with the ball late in the activity, as you could rely on him to provide a lot more often than not.
Now, it is well worth noting that not all of this falls on Jones’ shoulders. His supporting cast on offense pales in comparison to what his previous Alabama Crimson Tide teammates in Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa have on the Philadelphia Eagles and Miami Dolphins, and nonetheless he quite approximately managed to beat each of them. But quite approximately profitable isn’t going to rely. Jones experienced photographs to earn both of these game titles, and failed to supply on both of those situations.
Jones could profit from more help, but he is made thanks with the pretty lackluster enhance of options he has all-around him prior to. Acquiring a lethal protection allows, but the offense has to turn their stops into points much much more commonly than they have been ready to do to this place. And as the chief of the offense, that falls on Jones’ shoulders.
At some position, Jones is likely to have to demonstrate that he is the man who can provide these sorts of wins for the Patriots. New England has won one particular rating game titles with Jones below middle, but they mostly haven’t been since of his offensive generation. Beating the Eagles of Dolphins to open the time would have revealed that New England had in fact taken a step ahead on offense in 2023.
Still two online games into the season, it truly is been extra of the exact for the Patriots. These losses are equivalent to every single other, but they also seem eerily similar to losses from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Dallas Cowboys from Weeks 4 and 6 of the 2021 period, which have been also the fourth and sixth game titles of Jones’ young NFL profession. Jones has improved in some places of his sport, but this is not 1 of them.
In get for New England’s destiny to adjust, they have to find a way to grind out victories against large-high-quality opponents. Jones isn’t by yourself in his struggles to direct the Patriots to these sorts of wins, but he is also the leader of the offense as their quarterback. You will find nonetheless time to determine this out, but at some point, Mac Jones has to supply for New England, particularly now that they have crawled out to an -2 commence on the yr.