Mac Jones Is Our QB1

Share this page

Run-pass option packages bring ‘a little bit more of the college feel’ to the Patriots offense, says Matt Patricia​

www.patspulpit.com

RPO packages bring ‘more of the college feel’ to the Patriots offense

New England’s run-pass option package was on full display in the victory over the Jets.
www.patspulpit.com www.patspulpit.com

Excerpt:

“I like RPOs. They’re cool,” Jones told reporters earlier this season. “I think it puts stress on the defense. I definitely learned in college just watching Coach [Nick] Saban sometimes explode at practice. Just knowing he’s trying to tell somebody to do something but his guy’s running a route but then it’s also a run. Is it a pass? So there’s a lot of cool grey area there from an offensive perspective.”

Against the New York Jets on Sunday, the Patriots dialed up RPOs 13 times, according to Pro Football Focus. It was the most they've called in Mac Jones’ short career by more than double the next-highest game.
 
spacecrime said:

Run-pass option packages bring ‘a little bit more of the college feel’ to the Patriots offense, says Matt Patricia​

www.patspulpit.com

RPO packages bring ‘more of the college feel’ to the Patriots offense

New England’s run-pass option package was on full display in the victory over the Jets.
www.patspulpit.com www.patspulpit.com

Excerpt:

“I like RPOs. They’re cool,” Jones told reporters earlier this season. “I think it puts stress on the defense. I definitely learned in college just watching Coach [Nick] Saban sometimes explode at practice. Just knowing he’s trying to tell somebody to do something but his guy’s running a route but then it’s also a run. Is it a pass? So there’s a lot of cool grey area there from an offensive perspective.”

Against the New York Jets on Sunday, the Patriots dialed up RPOs 13 times, according to Pro Football Focus. It was the most they've called in Mac Jones’ short career by more than double the next-highest game.
Click to expand...

The Colts this weekend will run a lot of RPOs with Ehlinger at QB.
 
lets hope Mac puts any "Zappe" controversy to bed for the rest of the season and grows (or adjusts 🤷 ) to whatever the hell Patricia is calling
don't get me wrong, I like Zappe and hope some team gets dumb and offers a high pick for him. if this was a QB-crappy draft that might happen, although I believe this upcoming draft is strong(er) on QB's (?) so keep him and roll with it.
Hey, some team thought Scott Mitchell or Rob (something... bills traded for him with I think J'Ville) were worth it so anything is possible. Rob Johnson?
 
chevss454 said:
The Colts this weekend will run a lot of RPOs with Ehlinger at QB.
Click to expand...

I'd call it a solid possibility, but I'd take my chances with that over watching Jonathan Taylor treat us the way a Ginsu knife treats a hardboiled egg.

I know he's banged up and his line sucks (al-legedly), but I've seen too many injured guys throw the crutches away and then go out and kill us to feel comfortable
any time that beast is on the other side of the line.
 
Patriots44 said:
lets hope Mac puts any "Zappe" controversy to bed for the rest of the season and grows (or adjusts 🤷 ) to whatever the hell Patricia is calling
don't get me wrong, I like Zappe and hope some team gets dumb and offers a high pick for him. if this was a QB-crappy draft that might happen, although I believe this upcoming draft is strong(er) on QB's (?) so keep him and roll with it.
Hey, some team thought Scott Mitchell or Rob (something... bills traded for him with I think J'Ville) were worth it so anything is possible. Rob Johnson?
Click to expand...
Mitchell was very good.


For ONE year.
 
Mac struggled yesterday but he didn't throw an int and victory ensued. Baby steps.
I hope this bye week lets him reset his mind, banish the ghosts and gain the confidence he showed last year. I don't want to see him struggle the rest of the season.
It would help if he had a cleaner pocket. The OL has work to do. The entire O has work to do.
Get healthy during this week off, guys. Finish like the well oiled machine you envision.
 
chevss454 said:
I don't suppose it could be Mac's deficient OL. Silly me.


View: https://twitter.com/NBCSPatriots/status/1589398485761417216
Click to expand...


The OL is absolutely awful. Also see Stevenson getting hit 3 yards behind the line like 3 different times yesterday.

That being said, Mac is still missing some simple throws/reads and makes some weird decisions (like sliding for a loss of yards near the sideline when he could have just tossed the ball into the stands).

I have nothing against Mac. I want him to figure it out. But it is what it is right now - a QB playing just OK behind a worse than OK OL.
 
mooseontheloose said:
The OL is absolutely awful. Also see Stevenson getting hit 3 yards behind the line like 3 different times yesterday.

That being said, Mac is still missing some simple throws/reads and makes some weird decisions (like sliding for a loss of yards near the sideline when he could have just tossed the ball into the stands).

I have nothing against Mac. I want him to figure it out. But it is what it is right now - a QB playing just OK behind a worse than OK OL.
Click to expand...
While I agree absolutely. As for me, in my opinion, he’s been uncomfortable with his Oline for a while then he got hurt and missed some critical time which made it worse. The Oline then had to go back to the old system from last year, for Zappe, which they seem more comfortable with. Now he’s back and trying to get everyone back on track but he is really unsure of everything so letting him handle the game slowly to rebuild his confidence, while he and the offense gets health both physically and mentally may just be the best way for him to figure it out. One game at a time.

~Dee~
 
Last edited:
mooseontheloose said:
The OL is absolutely awful. Also see Stevenson getting hit 3 yards behind the line like 3 different times yesterday.

That being said, Mac is still missing some simple throws/reads and makes some weird decisions (like sliding for a loss of yards near the sideline when he could have just tossed the ball into the stands).

I have nothing against Mac. I want him to figure it out. But it is what it is right now - a QB playing just OK behind a worse than OK OL.
Click to expand...

He was intelligently keeping the clock moving.
 
chevss454 said:
Mac struggled yesterday but he didn't throw an int and victory ensued. Baby steps.
I hope this bye week lets him reset his mind, banish the ghosts and gain the confidence he showed last year. I don't want to see him struggle the rest of the season.
It would help if he had a cleaner pocket. The OL has work to do. The entire O has work to do.
Get healthy during this week off, guys. Finish like the well oiled machine you envision.
Click to expand...

Even an average OL would make all the difference. An average OL would at least allow enough time for the poor play calls to develop and offer a small chance of success.

As long as the OL play stinks and Patricia is unable to put together a game plan from the beginning that accounts for it Mac is going to look "off". He is still a very young QB and Patricia is hurting him.
 
aloyouis said:
He was intelligently keeping the clock moving.
Click to expand...

That was my guess, but the game was in hand and he ate like 4 yard loss or something. Wouldn't have mattered anyway because if he'd thrown it away the Colts would have accepted the penalty, but getting first downs in that situation is important as well.
 
I am so done with some of the play calling by Patricia and the atrocious play by the OL with any sort of competent D Line they face. Right now, Mac has to get that ball out in 1.2 seconds or else he's got some defender in his grill or running for his life. I know that McD wasn't very well liked by some around here but holy shitballs, this offense & playcalling is so inept that I could rush the passer, crawling, and give Mac a big ole bear hug in the backfield. Red Zone offense is terrible too. Thank you, Jebus, for Nick Folk!

Yes, Andrews is sorely missed but even having him back won't be THE answer. They need to take the next 2 weeks and do some self scouting on what they can do well and what they need to work on moving forward. Running the ball, dink and dunk - wasn't that what they did last year and did well? I think they didn't do Mac any favors this past summer by trying to install some new fangled "chuck it down the field" offense. That was never his strength.

Rant over :)
 
aloyouis said:
Even an average OL would make all the difference. An average OL would at least allow enough time for the poor play calls to develop and offer a small chance of success.

As long as the OL play stinks and Patricia is unable to put together a game plan from the beginning that accounts for it Mac is going to look "off". He is still a very young QB and Patricia is hurting him.
Click to expand...
Again, I think Patricia's game plan was intentional. Don't turn the ball over. Mac Jones was never in a position to put the ball in harm's way yesterday. Until Jones can figure out how to not do that, I think we're going to be getting basically the same thing.

And yes, you could have given that same plan to Zappe yesterday, and I think the results would have been similar, if not a little better.
 
TommyD420 said:
Again, I think Patricia's game plan was intentional. Don't turn the ball over. Mac Jones was never in a position to put the ball in harm's way yesterday. Until Jones can figure out how to not do that, I think we're going to be getting basically the same thing.

And yes, you could have given that same plan to Zappe yesterday, and I think the results would have been similar, if not a little better.
Click to expand...

Intentional? Absolutely. Disagree of the strategy you think he used. He started the game with three series of the same shit he has been feeding Mac (different from Zappe) and he had the same results minus the turnovers. The only thing that changed from the Bears game for most of the first half was Mac did a better job not putting the ball in harms way while running for his life in 5 step drops behind mostly 5 man "protection". Until Patricia can figure out how to call plays best suited for this offense with the OL issues so prevalent I think we are going to be getting basically the same thing.

Cause and effect. Mac's step back this year is a result of the poor OL play combined with play calling that, at least to start games, refuses to adjust for the OL line. Patricia has him running for his life before he can get to his second read.

I realize (and agree) that the dink/dunk offense is not the long term solution for beating the best teams unless the D really is REAL this year in which case it can win. I agree that the pass O has to become a threat in all 9 zones of the field (left/right/center/short/medium/deep). They are not capable of that yet due to the O line.

So what do they do? They run what they can be successful with now and sprinkle in the deeper stuff when the D is not expecting it. Add more of it when the O line is at least playing decently. Work their way up to it when the situation benefits you (lead late in game, 2nd and short etc). Definition of insanity is what Patricia has got going on here rn.
 
aloyouis said:
Intentional? Absolutely. Disagree of the strategy you think he used. He started the game with three series of the same shit he has been feeding Mac (different from Zappe) and he had the same results minus the turnovers. The only thing that changed from the Bears game for most of the first half was Mac did a better job not putting the ball in harms way while running for his life in 5 step drops behind mostly 5 man "protection". Until Patricia can figure out how to call plays best suited for this offense with the OL issues so prevalent I think we are going to be getting basically the same thing.

Cause and effect. Mac's step back this year is a result of the poor OL play combined with play calling that, at least to start games, refuses to adjust for the OL line. Patricia has him running for his life before he can get to his second read.

I realize (and agree) that the dink/dunk offense is not the long term solution for beating the best teams unless the D really is REAL this year in which case it can win. I agree that the pass O has to become a threat in all 9 zones of the field (left/right/center/short/medium/deep). They are not capable of that yet due to the O line.

So what do they do? They run what they can be successful with now and sprinkle in the deeper stuff when the D is not expecting it. Add more of it when the O line is at least playing decently. Work their way up to it when the situation benefits you (lead late in game, 2nd and short etc). Definition of insanity is what Patricia has got going on here rn.
Click to expand...
No one is buying Mac's playaction anymore, and I'm not sure why, and he's looking to run far too quickly. O-line play hasn't been good, but Mac has been giving up on plays way too easily, and running himself into sacks.

It's not that receivers aren't open, they are. He's missing them. I really think this is a Mac Jones problem, and not a Matt Patricia problem.

Edit: the only real criticism I have for Patricia yesterday was way, way too much JJ Taylor. I get wanting to not make Stevenson run the ball 30 times himself, but they got nothing from that guy yesterday. I can't imagine either of the other two rookies would have done any worse.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top