Mac Jones Is Our QB1

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In fact, I'll go one further. Mac will be the starter every game until Week 18, assuming he stays healthy.
Zappe starts the Jets game. :coffee:
 
Hawg73 said:
I think what we've been seeing here is that Bill has tried his level best to give Mac Jones as much leeway as he possibly can to hope
he works his way out of whatever confidence/mental issues the kid has.

The ironic thing is that yesterday was probably the best game the OL has played all year and Mac was still unable to settle himself
down and solve the puzzles that every QB has to in order to play at an NFL level. I think the team around him is getting better, but
Mac is actually getting worse.

During Mac's rookie year I read a thing about how Mac was studying a form of relaxation breathing which he referred to as the
Navy Seal Method. It's one of many such techniques and many find this form of what is known as "breath work" to be effective in calming
themselves down when shit starts going sideways. I've known about this stuff for a long time and will sometimes practice it myself when, say,
I find myself stuck in a traffic jam and am late for something. It's a solid life skill to have, imo, and I encourage anybody to look into
it on Youtube.

Anyhow, ever since I read that I have sometimes noticed Mac pursing his lips and exhaling slowly, which is part of the process and he now
seems to be doing it very frequently. He's got major anxiety issues, which override the breathing stuff, and it's preventing him from reaching
his potential as a player and that is sad and brutal to watch, but.....the NFL isn't a therapy session. In fact, it's designed to push people to
their breaking point. Jones' has obviously passed his some time ago and now it's time to move on. He's had plenty of chances and nobody
can say otherwise.

Even though Zappe is not necessarily an attractive option, I noticed something during our first drive after the half that I thought
was quite noticeable. Everybody's body language changed. There was a little bit of hope for those guys who have been slogging their
way though games with a leader that they all know is freaking out and now they had a new one who, while he hasn't done much to inspire
confidence, is at least not a basket case. Not yet, anyway.

I think the time has come to give Bailey the starters reps and see what happens. There was never much hope that Jones could work his way out
of it, but what little, perhaps, there was has been extinguished and it's time to make the move.

I will be shocked if Zappe isn't made the starter this week.
Click to expand...
Good post…sans the start Zappe stuff.

The Pats need Mac to keep doing his thang for the rest of the season.
 
Mazz22 said:
It's a shame Zappe does not have more physical talent. I was saying on the game thread he reminds me of Case Keenum.
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IMO, Zappe's main problem is with reading defenses. I think his arm is a little better than Mac's, (OK maybe that's not the highest standard). He also doesn't panic as much in the pocket, as Mac does when under pressure. He would benefit from a mentor to work with him on deciphering what defenses are doing. I wish they'd give him all the starter reps, and find out if he can at least be a legit backup QB. It was a shame that the kicker couldn't make a 35 yard field goal, and give him a chance at an OT win.
 
Big/Sky/Fly said:
Good post…sans the start Zappe stuff.

The Pats need Mac to keep doing his thang for the rest of the season.
Click to expand...
Rooting for losses is a shitty, filthy thing to have to do, but I don't really think it will make much difference
which guy starts. While I don't think Zappe's arm is as bad as most, I also found it kind of strange that Jon Vilma excused a
drop by somebody on the WR not being used to the increased ball speed after Mac. I think he actually said Zappe had
"much better" velocity or something to that effect. Then again, Vilma is the analyst equivalent of the two teams he was
commenting on. Very close to the bottom of the barrel.

However, I'd say there is still a chance that Bailey, given a starting gig for the rest of the season could surprise and screw up the race
for the bottom. A slim chance, but every once in a while he does something impressive. He can at least execute a half-decent fake
compared to Jones and has a chance to be a competent game-manager with some reps under his belt. He's a smart kid whose
confidence has not yet been destroyed and maybe he can steal a win or two.

As an aside, I want this team to be competitive ASAP and believe the best and only way is to keep losing and get a talented youngster with
tons of arm and leg talent who is not broken. I hate myself for being partially happy when they lose, but believe that is the only real
way out of this tailspin. I'll learn to forgive myself later if it all works out for the best.

We've got to take a chance at greatness and can't be risk-averse by trading down. Not this April.

I feel pretty sure that if we get the right guy to reset and then have one hell of an offseason rebuilding the Offense around that
person then this nightmarish shitshow of a season will be forgotten quickly, but that doesn't make watching the weekly carnage much
easier to stomach.

I'll settle for light at the end of the tunnel. This team is not nearly as bad as the record suggests. We're about a QB and 5 more good
players away from a major change of fortune and that is entirely doable. Cold comfort, but it's all we have left.

That's 3 straight weeks where we outplayed the opposition and still lost because of the QB.
 
Hawg73 said:
Rooting for losses is a shitty, filthy thing to have to do, but I don't really think it will make much difference
which guy starts. While I don't think Zappe's arm is as bad as most, I also found it kind of strange that Jon Vilma excused a
drop by somebody on the WR not being used to the increased ball speed after Mac. I think he actually said Zappe had
"much better" velocity or something to that effect. Then again, Vilma is the analyst equivalent of the two teams he was
commenting on. Very close to the bottom of the barrel.

However, I'd say there is still a chance that Bailey, given a starting gig for the rest of the season could surprise and screw up the race
for the bottom. A slim chance, but every once in a while he does something impressive. He can at least execute a half-decent fake
compared to Jones and has a chance to be a competent game-manager with some reps under his belt. He's a smart kid whose
confidence has not yet been destroyed and maybe he can steal a win or two.

As an aside, I want this team to be competitive ASAP and believe the best and only way is to keep losing and get a talented youngster with
tons of arm and leg talent who is not broken. I hate myself for being partially happy when they lose, but believe that is the only real
way out of this tailspin. I'll learn to forgive myself later if it all works out for the best.

We've got to take a chance at greatness and can't be risk-averse by trading down. Not this April.

I feel pretty sure that if we get the right guy to reset and then have one hell of an offseason rebuilding the Offense around that
person then this nightmarish shitshow of a season will be forgotten quickly, but that doesn't make watching the weekly carnage much
easier to stomach.

I'll settle for light at the end of the tunnel. This team is not nearly as bad as the record suggests. We're about a QB and 5 more good
players away from a major change of fortune and that is entirely doable. Cold comfort, but it's all we have left.

That's 3 straight weeks where we outplayed the opposition and still lost because of the QB.
Click to expand...
I agree about the team as a whole, not being as bad as they seem. If we had simply been able to get just competent QB play, we would have had a real chance at up to 6 more wins, thus far. BTW, what looked to be our best 2 players on defense (Gonzalez & Judon), have been out for most of the year.
This is why I think we should get a veteran QB, draft a good WR (like Harrison if he's still available when we draft), and then develop a QB.
 
Hawg73 said:
Rooting for losses is a shitty, filthy thing to have to do, but I don't really think it will make much difference
which guy starts. While I don't think Zappe's arm is as bad as most, I also found it kind of strange that Jon Vilma excused a
drop by somebody on the WR not being used to the increased ball speed after Mac. I think he actually said Zappe had
"much better" velocity or something to that effect. Then again, Vilma is the analyst equivalent of the two teams he was
commenting on. Very close to the bottom of the barrel.

However, I'd say there is still a chance that Bailey, given a starting gig for the rest of the season could surprise and screw up the race
for the bottom. A slim chance, but every once in a while he does something impressive. He can at least execute a half-decent fake
compared to Jones and has a chance to be a competent game-manager with some reps under his belt. He's a smart kid whose
confidence has not yet been destroyed and maybe he can steal a win or two.

As an aside, I want this team to be competitive ASAP and believe the best and only way is to keep losing and get a talented youngster with
tons of arm and leg talent who is not broken. I hate myself for being partially happy when they lose, but believe that is the only real
way out of this tailspin. I'll learn to forgive myself later if it all works out for the best.

We've got to take a chance at greatness and can't be risk-averse by trading down. Not this April.

I feel pretty sure that if we get the right guy to reset and then have one hell of an offseason rebuilding the Offense around that
person then this nightmarish shitshow of a season will be forgotten quickly, but that doesn't make watching the weekly carnage much
easier to stomach.

I'll settle for light at the end of the tunnel. This team is not nearly as bad as the record suggests. We're about a QB and 5 more good
players away from a major change of fortune and that is entirely doable. Cold comfort, but it's all we have left.

That's 3 straight weeks where we outplayed the opposition and still lost because of the QB.
Click to expand...

I can't talk about this season, beyond a whisper that Mac's got something a bit off with his shoulder/arm that may/may not be impacting his velocity. But last year we had someone pulling the data, and it showed that Jones threw harder than Bailey.
 
Where is the resident Mac Jones apologist? Been awful quiet lately and I don't see any posts about his stat lines etc. Gotta be a hard time for him right now...
 
Deus Irae said:
I can't talk about this season, beyond a whisper that Mac's got something a bit off with his shoulder/arm that may/may not be impacting his velocity. But last year we had someone pulling the data, and it showed that Jones threw harder than Bailey.
Click to expand...
I really though Zappe had a better deep ball than Jones did last year (when they used to occasionally throw some deep balls). As I've said before, I thought both of them were better last year under Patricia, than they have been this year under BOB.
 
Deus Irae said:
I can't talk about this season, beyond a whisper that Mac's got something a bit off with his shoulder/arm that may/may not be impacting his velocity. But last year we had someone pulling the data, and it showed that Jones threw harder than Bailey.
Click to expand...

I suppose it's possible that he does have some issues with the arm, but that doesn't explain what appears to be a total deterioration of his field vision and decision-making.

I always thought he threw fine at 'Bama and thought he had the talent and skill to change speeds when he needed to. I never bought the "noodle arm" theory that
some Patriots fans had, but at this point I have no idea why his throws seem to be so wildly inconsistent. He throws a beautiful ball right on the money on one
down and then lobs a nerf ball way off target on another. Zero consistency.

I believe the issue is more likely between his ears than his arm, but sure, that could be a contributing factor. I still don't think Mac was a bad draft choice at all. He appeared to be
a solid bet to get us going again, but his story is surely one of the strangest things to figure we've seen around here in a while. I take no pleasure in ripping the
kid, but......at this point there is literally nothing he does well enough to win.
 
Deus Irae said:
I can't talk about this season, beyond a whisper that Mac's got something a bit off with his shoulder/arm that may/may not be impacting his velocity. But last year we had someone pulling the data, and it showed that Jones threw harder than Bailey.
Click to expand...
Sounds more like excuse making, probably something put out there by his camp. On just about every one of his noodle armed looking throws you can find mechanic issues like throwing flat footed, off has back foot, across his body, etc.. He doesn't have the arm to make those throws, never did. When he steps into his throws his arm looks "good enough" for most of the throws, just like his rookie season.
 
Hawg73 said:
I suppose it's possible that he does have some issues with the arm, but that doesn't explain what appears to be a total deterioration of his field vision and decision-making.

I always thought he threw fine at 'Bama and thought he had the talent and skill to change speeds when he needed to. I never bought the "noodle arm" theory that
some Patriots fans had, but at this point I have no idea why his throws seem to be so wildly inconsistent. He throws a beautiful ball right on the money on one
down and then lobs a nerf ball way off target on another. Zero consistency.

I believe the issue is more likely between his ears than his arm, but sure, that could be a contributing factor. I still don't think Mac was a bad draft choice at all. He appeared to be
a solid bet to get us going again, but his story is surely one of the strangest things to figure we've seen around here in a while. I take no pleasure in ripping the
kid, but......at this point there is literally nothing he does well enough to win.
Click to expand...

Noodle arm is a bit strong, but he doesn't have the arm strength to drive the ball into tight windows unless his body is in perfect lineup. House I thought was going to help that but it hasn't translated it would seem. Mac Jones as QB1 is over, might as well change the thread title because it's not correct anymore. Quite frankly, it hasn't been correct for about 2 years now and Mac Jones Backup QB2 is more apt and probably is what it always was going to be.
 
ViperGTS said:
Noodle arm is a bit strong, but he doesn't have the arm strength to drive the ball into tight windows unless his body is in perfect lineup. House I thought was going to help that but it hasn't translated it would seem. Mac Jones as QB1 is over, might as well change the thread title because it's not correct anymore. Quite frankly, it hasn't been correct for about 2 years now and Mac Jones Backup QB2 is more apt and probably is what it always was going to be.
Click to expand...
House is just a mechanics guy. He can't unfortunately help Mac to play the position. I really thought Bob would help a lot more than he has. I get the sense that Jones is a really good practice player than deer in headlights come game day.
 
Mazz22 said:
House is just a mechanics guy. He can't unfortunately help Mac to play the position. I really thought Bob would help a lot more than he has. I get the sense that Jones is a really good practice player than deer in headlights come game day.
Click to expand...

Thats also a very good point. I do agree, I thought BoB was going to do something more but he also can't make Mac do the right thing. You are probably right about the practice thing, because game speed is very very different. That 2 seconds he has to get the ball into a window at practice is one on gameday. Ditto for the pass rush.
 
another thought...b o'b knew he was inheriting a qb who was having the issues mac had. plus he knew mac before he was hired.so i am sure he had a plan of attack to correct his issues. what we don't know is where/how it went awry.
 
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