If you noticed, I haven't complained about Mac Jones' lack of arm strength all year. I don't think it's nearly as big an issue as it was.
I mean, compared to Bailey Zappe, he's Dan Marino.
I wish I felt the same way, but I felt like Jones was all over the map this year in every way. His inconsistency was consistent.
I'm not part of the Jones has a noodle arm crew, yet I believe that I saw him throw quite a few passes that looked, uh, not strong, along with inaccurate, ill-advised and
sometimes even clueless. His mechanics were often poor. Sure, his pct. is still high, but how many of those were two-yard gains to guys closely covered? I think he missed his reads to an alarming
extent, often skipping the open guy for a shorter throw that was covered when both should have been in his field of vision. Decision making was supposed to be one of his best traits, but....not so much this season.
Do I think he threw downfield better? Yes, to a degree, but there wasn't a single other aspect of his game that made me think he's
a better player than what I had seen. He didn't look more experienced or cool under fire. He wasn't great at protecting the ball and that's
what he is supposed to be good at.
His ball-handling looked awful at times and that was something that I thought was a major strength of his in College. He was pretty slick at
Bama. In general, he didn't fool many people in 2022 after it appeared he was going to be a crafty sort of QB. I think he moved more Safeties
and LBs with his eyes in his rookie year, though I can't prove it. Was that Matty's fault, too?
I'm on board for him to be our QB this season, because I acknowledge he was in a bad situation, but I'm not 100% sure the regression apparent
to most football folk is fully explained by the usual excuses, i.e., coaching and the OL.
In any case, he's smart enough to think the whole thing through, recognize where it all started to spin out and, with help, get himself untracked, but
I can't claim that I'm confident that will definitely happen. I have my doubts which I'll attempt to suppress.
What bothers me most about this year was the excitement the players displayed when Mac was pulled for Zappe, which obviously didn't end up working
out. Forget what the fans or the media say-- that is a telltale right there.