Can Patriots QB Mac Jones Follow Brady Blueprint vs. Eagles?
FOXBORO — New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones will be playing under the watchful eye of a Pats icon during the team’s Week 1 matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles.
As the Pats pay homage to the career of 18-time team captain Tom Brady with both pregame and halftime ceremonies, Jones will have his hands full with perhaps the most fearsome defensive front in the NFL — a unit known for causing nightmares for opposing quarterbacks.
While Jones handled defensive pressure with less-than acceptable prowess just one year earlier, he may find himself well-served by taking a page out of Brady’s proverbial, yet legendary playbook on Sunday.
Simply put, Jones must quickly move on from his mistakes.
“I think it was really his ability to overcome bad plays,” Jones said earlier this week of the quality for which he most admired Brady. “He made a lot of good plays — a lot more than the bad — but whenever he maybe didn’t have a great play, the next play was always really good. I feel like that’s marquee for a really good quarterback, so I definitely learned that from him.”
While the recently-turned 25-year-old would love to keep keep his bad plays to a minimum, Jones is enough a realist to realize that a ferocious Philly defense is nearly-certain to disrupt his comfort — whether under center, in the pocket or during an escape attempt.
“They have the best defensive line in the NFL,” Jones said without hesitation. “So, at the end of the day, we just have to go out there and compete, and try and control what we can control, and understand that we’re going up against a bunch of beasts.”
For the majority of last season, Jones struggled to maintain his presence in the pocket, often finding himself under duress. Teams having the most success against him were those who deployed strategically placed blitzes from the second and third level of the defense. The pressure confused Jones, causing him to open at the top of his drop in the wrong direction, leading to suspect decision-making.
With inadequate protection from the team’s offensive line, Jones has had insufficient time to operate. As a result, he has had little-to-no choice but to take short-yardage check downs, especially when the Pats opponents’ perimeter corners took away his preferred routes and targets.
This is particularly concerning to both Jones and the Pats offensive line, who may be facing their season’s toughest test in Week 1.
Philadelphia, led by defensive tackle Fletcher Cox and linebacker Hasson Reddick, finished last season atop the league with 69.5 sacks. The Eagles defense also yielded a 12.6 percent sack-per-pass-play rate, which also led the NFL. With the added stress of an expectedly unhealthy offensive line, the recipe for disaster is seemingly awaiting the frying pan in Foxboro.
“They can do whatever they want. They can blitz 11 people if they want, and you’ve just got to be prepared and have a toolbox to use and make sure everyone is on the same page,” said Jones. “It takes all 11 guys. But, you’ve got to go out there and play fast, too. So, looking forward to doing that. I feel like we’ve seen our defense for a few months now, and they do a lot of stuff, but so does Philly, and they’re a really experienced front – great DBs, great linebackers. So, it’s really a tough challenge, but looking forward to playing them.”
To New England’s credit, Jones has looked more comfortable and decisive under the tutelage of new offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien. The Pats have noticeably returned to a timing-based scheme, predicated on vertical routes and completions from quick, accurate throws. While the Matt Patricia-led regime attempted to incorporate more zone reads into their repertoire, Jones is at his best when leading his receivers under the defense, releasing the ball quickly and delivering it accurately — as well as using the run to facilitate play-action passes.
Throughout training camp, Jones looked especially sharp during his red zone work with the Pats starting offense. Rather than settling for check downs, he is using the short game to his advantage, while taking chances downfield when the opportunity presents itself. Not only has Jones taken the initiative to make improvements to his game, he has embraced the “clean slate” provided to him by his new offenisve coordinator. For his efforts, O’Brien has given Jones greater authority at the line of scrimmage. Accordingly, Jones’ command of the offense earned him the starting position.
It also earned him the respect of Brady, with whom the Pats current starting quarterback spent some time this offseason. In fact, the future Hall-of-Famer may have already imparted some wisdom to Jones, which could be of invaluable help to him as he evades Eagles defenders on Sunday.
“He’s definitely a legend, and I have all the respect for him. He’s a great guy. He’s actually helped me a lot already, just talking to him, and he’s been a great mentor” … “He’s the greatest to do it.”
Though it may be unfair — not to mention unlikely— to expect Jones to be Brady-esque against Philadelphia, Jones may best pay tribute to the Pats legend by learning from and improving after each play.
After all, if Mac should need any help, who is a better ‘consigliere’ than Tom Brady?
