According to Pro Football Focus, Patriots quarterback Mac Jones is the second-worst rated quarterback in the league after nine weeks.
Only Washington’s Taylor Heinicke received a worse grade than Jones out of the 39 quarterbacks that were ranked at the midway point.
Play caller Matt Patricia and quarterbacks coach Joe Judge don’t seem to be bothered by Jones’ apparent regression this season.
Listening to them during a videoconference Thursday, it was like both were in there’s nothing to see here mode with respect to Jones, who had the best rookie season of any quarterback last year, but has struggled this season. They hung on statistics not meaning everything in order to defend his performance.
Of course, admitting that Jones has regressed would be a reflection on them as coaches. Or it might also be an attempt to boost up Jones’ confidence.
In any case, Patricia and Judge were upbeat and positive about their second-year quarterback, who has thrown four touchdown passes, but has been intercepted seven times.
Patricia said Jones matures every week with “the way he sees the game, the way that he plays the game, and the way that he understands things from a team standpoint, how we need to play a particular game each week.”
He also talked about Jones being smart, having great ideas, being a great leader who works extremely hard.
“It’s just a great joy (coaching him),” said Patricia. “I just appreciate being able to be around him, and working with someone like that who just loves the game, and puts so much into it and wants to win, and wants the team to win. That’s really been awesome.”
Pressed about his actual play on the field, and if he had seen the type of progress from Jones they had hoped, Patricia claimed he had, pointing out the subtle, nuanced things that perhaps don’t show up on the stat sheet, or aren’t obvious watching.
“I think we see progress every week. Maybe some of that doesn’t maybe present itself in a way that’s noticeable for everybody,” he said. “There might be little things in there we work on that improve each and every week. He’s certainly progressing every week in a great way.”
Asked to expound further about Jones making progress, as opposed to taking a step back, and where he sees him at this stage, Patricia said circumstances change every year.
“For us, and for me right now, it’s just an evaluation of where is he now, where were we a couple months ago with the things we were doing, and have we improved on those,” said Patricia. “There’s things he’s certainly improved on that have helped our team a lot. Certainly those things are the ones we’re putting a big point of emphasis on.
“Statistically, the numbers from last year compared to this year, I just think everything’s different from year to year. So the most important thing for us is to improve going forward this year, and focus on this year.”
Said Judge: “Mac’s done a really good job for us these last few weeks really managing the game. Sometimes that gets thrown out there in a negative connotation. When Mac has an opportunity to push the ball down the field, and take a shot, he does it. He’s been very good in that realm … he’s done a really good job making adjustments and really keeping the team out of some negative positions.”
Along with Jones, Patricia was also asked about his new job, and if he feels comfortable calling offensive plays for the first time.
“Certainly I think every week, you get a little more comfortable in certain areas, some other things pop up as the season goes because there’s things that present themselves maybe differently every single week based on the teams you play,” he said. “That’s a great learning experience for me … but just continually trying to take those steps to improve every single week is really the focus.”
