Someone has to step in and stop the madness. Someone has to bring a measure of sanity to the insanity currently revolving around the quarterbacks.
Whether it’s Patriots owner Robert Kraft, head coach Bill Belichick, or offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Bill O’Brien, pick one. Someone has to step in and have Mac Jones take a seat. No more see what happens in practice nonsense. Just make it so.
O’Brien claimed Tuesday – for the second time this month – that a decision to sit Jones going forward wasn’t up to him.
It doesn’t matter if he felt it was best for Jones to take a break, based on what he’s seen in games and practice. He said benching Jones wasn’t his call to make, even though he’s in charge of the offense and the quarterbacks.
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O’Brien said he could make a recommendation, but in the “chain of command”, the decision ultimately belonged to Kraft and Belichick, in that order.
“If I have a thought out, educated thing to say, I’ll say it,” said O’Brien. “As assistant coaches, we make recommendations. Head coaches, and owners make decisions. That’s how it works.”
Fine.
If I was O’Brien, I would be jumping up and down, screaming from a megaphone from the $250 million lighthouse and “recommending” to sit Jones and have Bailey Zappe start against the Chargers on Sunday. I’d be ringing the bell, and not stop until the message was received and Kraft and or Belichick agreed and took action.
That’s what O’Brien should be doing.
Zappe at least still has his wits about him in the pocket. He can make plays with the pass rush on top of him, as he did Sunday against the Giants when he miraculously flipped the ball to Rhamondre Stevenson to avoid a sack and net a modest gain. That’s not to say Zappe is better than Jones. If Jones is on his game, he’s better. But right now, Jones is nowhere near his game.
He’s not functioning well running the Patriots offense. His passer rating in Sunday’s 10-7 loss was 27.8. That’s beyond bad.
Jones is a complete mess right now during games. He’s seeing ghosts. He’s lobbing balls up for grabs and hoping for completions. He’s throwing off his back foot at any inkling of pressure.
Between not seeing open receivers, not being accurate with his throws, and panicking in the pocket, he’s lost everything that made him such a good quarterback his rookie season with the Patriots. That’s not to say Jones was an elite star, he’s just not close to what he was. Of course, Belichick has had a significant hand in what Jones has become. But slicing the blame pie for his decline isn’t the most important matter at hand.
The team is 2-9. What is the point of playing a broken quarterback, even if he practices better than the rest?
How can Kraft, Belichick, and or O’Brien not see that? How can what the quarterbacks do on the practice field once again be the determining factor?
Jones wears a red jersey in practice, and no one is allowed to come near him, much less touch him. He’s fine in that setting.
The games are the problem. Jones can’t handle games right now. When the pressure ratchets up, he turns into a puddle. It’s happened over and over. What more evidence is needed?
Go to Zappe, or even Will Grier, who was re-signed to the practice squad Tuesday. Malik Cunningham is also a better choice, because right now, it shouldn’t be about playing Jones, it should be about salvaging Jones.
The Patriots still have him under contract for next year, and have an option for the year after that.
Even if they take a quarterback in the 2024 draft, wouldn’t it behoove them to not completely destroy Jones with the ship already sunk this year?
It was already mind-boggling starting Jones after yanking him for the third time this season in Germany with a few minutes still on the clock for a go-ahead drive.
Perhaps Kraft/Belichick/O’Brien thought the former first round pick might perform better in a game with the benefit of time off given the bye week. That didn’t happen. Jones was still a turnover waiting to happen, adding two more picks to his total of 12 on the season.
Are they really going to start him again after pulling him for a fourth time in 11 games, and continue to ruin him?
“I don’t make those calls,” said O’Brien, who naturally wouldn’t reveal if he had recommended to the powers that be that Jones take a seat.
If Belichick and or Kraft aren’t listening to O’Brien’s recommendation, what about the players? If they don’t believe the recent Boston Herald report that “at least 80 percent of the Patriots locker room is out on Mac Jones” perhaps Belichick should ask his captains – sans Jones – if that’s the case.
He meets with them every week, how about hearing what they have to say on the subject?
While Jones would likely benefit from getting out of Foxborough and resurrecting his career with another team, he’s still here right now, and sinking lower and lower in the abyss with each start. Players on defense can’t be happy holding teams to 10 points the past few games, only to lose after watching Jones implode.
Said O’Brien: “All of us coaches and players alike have to figure out how to improve. That’s what we’re trying to do. I know it doesn’t look great. But we’re still going to keep trying to do that.”
The only way to get Jones to improve is not sticking him out there.
Having him start against the Chargers puts everyone in a bad spot, and continues the run of insanity.
It’s your move Robert, Bill, or whoever is in charge of benching quarterbacks.
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