Misuse and Regression of Mac Jones and How to Fix

[DropKickFlutie]

“
As a rookie, about 3.5 of Mac’s pass attempts per game went for 20-plus yards, according to Pro Football Focus. In three games this season, he was nearly doubling that number (6.7). He was also second in the league in intended air yards (10) and third in air yards on completions (7.5).

But it came at a price. Last year, Jones made just seven of what Pro Football Focus considers “turnover-worthy plays,” which are defined as “a pass that has a high percentage chance to be intercepted or a poor job of taking care of the ball and fumbling”. He had already piled up six of them through three games before his injury.”

With shorter throws and more play-action, Bailey Zappe is looking a lot like last year’s Mac Jones - The Boston Globe

In the last two weeks, Zappe has led the Patriots to back-to-back wins making the same kind of “dink and dunk” throws that Jones did as a rookie.

www.bostonglobe.com

[Zappe’s plays are completely different]

“By the numbers, Zappe’s leash has been pretty short. He’s averaging 6.4 intended air yards — and 5.3 on completions — on the 70 throws he’s made, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.

Of Zappe’s 76 dropbacks, 21 have been play-action passes (27.6 percent) and 14 have been screens (18.4). It’s a skill Zappe said he’s honed at the NFL level.”

 

[BostonTim]

Love it when he just talks to himself.

 

[Hawg73]

Ben Volin just posted a picture of Bailey's playbook. Word on the street is that he didn't do as well as Mac at
trivia, but he was pretty good with the puzzles, so we should be OK.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

article:
Patriots staff ‘stacking the deck’ on play-calls towards Zappe?

Coaches Stacking Deck For Bailey Zappe Vs. Mac Jones? Speculation Builds

One NFL writer speculated how New England Patriots coaches Joe Judge and Matt Patricia want Bailey Zappe to play rather than Mac Jones.

nesn.com

 

[DropKickFlutie]

“

Q: Is there anything you've seen from Mac that can explain the sudden drop-off? Decision-making seems to be the biggest issue, but I think that's a product of the playcalling. - @James_Dubz

Evan Lazar: the short of it is that the Patriots have decided to turn Jones into a vertical passer, and it's setting him up for failure. They've gone full Bruce Arians with Mac in the game rather than the efficient offense we saw last season or the orchestrated shot plays they run with Zappe. Mac is not to blame here. This is a coaching failure.
“

Patriots Unfiltered Mailbag: A Three-Step Plan to Get the Patriots Back on Track

How will the Patriots handle the quarterback situation moving forward?

www.patriots.com

 

[jayShomp]

Patriots staff ‘stacking the deck’ on play-calls towards Zappe?

Coaches Stacking Deck For Bailey Zappe Vs. Mac Jones? Speculation Builds

One NFL writer speculated how New England Patriots coaches Joe Judge and Matt Patricia want Bailey Zappe to play rather than Mac Jones.

nesn.com

Bedard used be a half way decent writer when he came over from GB, more of an analyst really but then he started going on Felger and Mazz, and slowly over time turned into what he is now. Making that type of connection is a huge stretch, straight out of something you'd hear on F&M. So let me get this straight, they went through an entire camp, preseason, and 2 games trying to install a new offensive philosophy, then abandoned it completely for a wet behind the ears rookie just to try to force Mac out? All awhile Belichick is unaware this is happening?

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Bedard used be a half way decent writer when he came over from GB, more of an analyst really but then he started going on Felger and Mazz, and slowly over time turned into what he is now. Making that type of connection is a huge stretch, straight out of something you'd hear on F&M. So let me get this straight, they went through an entire camp, preseason, and 2 games trying to install a new offensive philosophy, then abandoned it completely for a wet behind the ears rookie just to try to force Mac out? All awhile Belichick is unaware this is happening?

1. In dont think it’s a conspiracy. But they clearly do call plays differently and the Zappe plays are better, suit the personnel better, and are higher percentage plays than the Mac plays.

2. The new “tailored” vertical shotgun plays for Mac are just terrible. Whoever came up with this is a weak link on the staff and straight up wrong. Makes me want to hunt for all the weak links on this shaky offensive staff. Different levels of blame fall on Evan Rothstein, Joe Judge, and Matt Patricia

 

[DropKickFlutie]

I see Doug Kyed just tweeted some mediocre analysis but I won’t post it due to:

1. Mac and Zappe’s plays in the first half were unquestionably different. Zappe under center, play action, short passes, while Mac gets only crappy vertical shotgun.
2. Kyed was counting Zappe’s entire Bears second half where they only had 3 and outs or 2 INTs or 1 fumble. An absolutely pathetic second half of offensive football that was also mostly spread shotgun too, just terrible. Zappe’s Bears 2nd half was different from the Bears 1st half or Lions or Browns games.
3. Maybe one global conclusion is the spread shotgun offense flat out SUCKS for both QBs. So just get rid of it. Zappe looked even worse than Mac trying to run the crappy spread shotgun vertical offense. This vertical garbage only gets INTs, is inefficient, exposes the OLine pass blocking, and also gets the QB killed. Now, try Mac with the low risk Zappe short throwing plays

 

[sg14]

Lazar was on Patriots Unfiltered yesterday and said that when Mac does play action the linebackers don't bite. When Zappe does PA, the LBs do move up to the LOS.
Lazar didn't know why and plans to ask an ex-NFL QB about it.

 

[Mazz22]

1. In dont think it’s a conspiracy. But they clearly do call plays differently and the Zappe plays are better, suit the personnel better, and are higher percentage plays than the Mac plays.

2. The new “tailored” vertical shotgun plays for Mac are just terrible. Whoever came up with this is a weak link on the staff and straight up wrong. Makes me want to hunt for all the weak links on this shaky offensive staff. Different levels of blame fall on Evan Rothstein, Joe Judge, and Matt Patricia

Zo was saying today that the reason for the difference is that Mac is a second year player and the Pats wanted him to be able to run a more complex, vertical offense. I don't really see an issue with that at a high level because I have been saying for years that Pats need to run a more explosive offense to keep up with the rest of the high flying offenses, especially the ones in the AFC. The issue is Mac was/is not ready to run that type of offense in year 2 and the personnel is not suited for it either. That being said, I feel the drafting of Thornton was step towards speed and explosiveness which I really liked.

I think right now the team is stuck in no man's land. Perhaps they rushed Mac too fast on top of not building the type of offense for the vertical game. A terrible combo. My guess is when Mac starts on Sunday, we see more of the playbook from last year. I mean I really don't think they have choice unless they want to see a repeat of the last 3.5 games Mac has played in. I have also got to believe that Bill does not want to pull Mac again so he should be telling Patricia to make sure he has plays that Mac can be successful with. What is tough this week though is the Jete have a really good defense. It's going to be tough sledding all game long.

 

[HSanders]

Lazar was on Patriots Unfiltered yesterday and said that when Mac does play action the linebackers don't bite. When Zappe does PA, the LBs do move up to the LOS.
Lazar didn't know why and plans to ask an ex-NFL QB about it.

interesting. i thought ball handling was a great strength of mac's last year. i wonder if there's something with the way he's faking? or some other tell?

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Zo was saying today that the reason for the difference is that Mac is a second year player and the Pats wanted him to be able to run a more complex, vertical offense. I don't really see an issue with that at a high level because I have been saying for years that Pats need to run a more explosive offense to keep up with the rest of the high flying offenses, especially the ones in the AFC. The issue is Mac was/is not ready to run that type of offense in year 2 and the personnel is not suited for it either. That being said, I feel the drafting of Thornton was step towards speed and explosiveness which I really liked.

I think right now the team is stuck in no man's land. Perhaps they rushed Mac too fast on top of not building the type of offense for the vertical game. A terrible combo. My guess is when Mac starts on Sunday, we see more of the playbook from last year. I mean I really don't think they have choice unless they want to see a repeat of the last 3.5 games Mac has played in. I have also got to believe that Bill does not want to pull Mac again so he should be telling Patricia to make sure he has plays that Mac can be successful with. What is tough this week though is the Jete have a really good defense. It's going to be tough sledding all game long.

I don’t personally get the push to go vertical. The 3 wins this year and last year’s 7 game winning streak were with power run ball control, play action, dink and dunk short passing ball. Get a ton of first downs and keep your defense fresh. The Pats suck at vertical offense. Even when they led the league in Sept in deep passing yards, it resulted in a lot of losing because the Pats are not a vertical personnel team. And we don’t have Mahomes or Allen. So pointing to that makes no sense. Be what you are.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Lazar was on Patriots Unfiltered yesterday and said that when Mac does play action the linebackers don't bite. When Zappe does PA, the LBs do move up to the LOS.
Lazar didn't know why and plans to ask an ex-NFL QB about it.

This is misleading. Mac’s “PA” are in shotgun, they barely play Mac under center. Big difference with PA under center.

 

[Mazz22]

I don’t personally get the push to go vertical. The 3 wins this year and last year’s 7 game winning streak were with power run ball control, play action, dink and dunk short passing ball. Get a ton of first downs and keep your defense fresh. The Pats suck at vertical offense. Even when they led the league in Sept in deep passing yards, it resulted in a lot of losing because the Pats are not a vertical personnel team. And we don’t have Mahomes or Allen. So pointing to that makes no sense. Be what you are.

I think they were/are hoping Mac progresses toward Allen. Not that he would be Allen but develop how Allen has developed.

 

[Big/Sky/Fly]

1. In dont think it’s a conspiracy. But they clearly do call plays differently and the Zappe plays are better, suit the personnel better, and are higher percentage plays than the Mac plays.

2. The new “tailored” vertical shotgun plays for Mac are just terrible. Whoever came up with this is a weak link on the staff and straight up wrong. Makes me want to hunt for all the weak links on this shaky offensive staff. Different levels of blame fall on Evan Rothstein, Joe Judge, and Matt Patricia

Why are two playbooks a bad thing? Just curious...

Two different QB's. Two different skillsets. They most likely have different favorite plays that work best for them.

I'm not seeing the issue here I guess.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Why are two playbooks a bad thing? Just curious...

Two different QB's. Two different skillsets. They most likely have different favorite plays that work best for them.

I'm not seeing the issue here I guess.

At least for me, it’s clear Mac is a field general not a vertical offense guy. Mac has 7INTs this year. He’s a better version of Zappe but both are dink and dunk guys. Mac is not good at 20+ yard throws. He can complete them but it’s inefficient losing football

It matters if a player is not suited for the crappy plays the coaches want. If you ask a NBA player who isn’t good at 3 pointers to suddenly take 15 3’s a game, that’s purely terrible coaching and not the player’s fault

 

[Hawg73]

interesting. i thought ball handling was a great strength of mac's last year. i wonder if there's something with the way he's faking? or some other tell?

I've been wondering the same thing. He has to have a tell. Somebody call Ernie Adams down in Boca and tell him to get his
ass back to Foxboro.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

I've been wondering the same thing. He has to have a tell. Somebody call Ernie Adams down in Boca and tell him to get his
ass back to Foxboro.

Before we to down this wild goose chase, first is confirming this is even true. Mac’s play action calls are barely play action, they are terrible spread shotgun plays from the coaches that are classified as PA. Very different from a behind center play action with actual guard pulls that Zappe gets

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Mac was elite in play action last year. Another sign Joe Judge and Rothstein have totally f’d up the plays for Mac this year.

2021 article:
“According to charting data from Pro Football Focus, Jones has an Adjusted Completion Percentage (ACP) of 82.8% on play-action designs this season, tying him for fifth-best in the league with Dak Prescott among qualified passers. His raw completion percentage jumps from 67.8% to 77.1% when using play-action, and that difference of 9.3% is fifth-best in the league among qualified passers.”

How Mac Jones and the Patriots lean on play-action in the passing game

Mac Jones, and his success on play-action designs, is a part of New England’s six-game winning streak. Let’s dive into the numbers and the film.

touchdownwire.usatoday.com

 

[Hawg73]

Before we to down this wild goose chase, first is confirming this is even true. Mac’s play action calls are barely play action, they are terrible spread shotgun plays from the coaches that are classified as PA. Very different from a behind center play action with actual guard pulls that Zappe gets

You must be a ton of fun at parties.