Mac has now had a 3 year career of getting the ball late in close games with a chance to win or tie and has never, ever once been able to come through. I think it's now 8 or 9 games in 3 years. And you look at the games and say "Oh well it's not his fault since Harris fumbled and/or Folk hit the upright and/or Jakobi lost his damn mind," but Mac is the guy who puts them in the hole and he's the guy without enough arm strength to get them out of it.
I fully expect now going forward that if they are down in a close game and get the ball with one last drive to win it, they won't come through. Mac doesn't have "it."
Yes the OL stinks. Yes the WRs aren't dynamic. Yes they play sloppy. But the one constant in these games over the last 3 years is Mac.
And the team as a whole plays as if they expect to lose. They have zero confidence that they will pull it out. Thus you see boneheaded plays from players doing too much.
And goddamn, that INT Mac threw to Parker was EGREGIOUS. I can't possibly understand what he thought he was doing there.
This is exactly where my thinking about Mac is as well.
I loved him out of the draft. I went to the “Brady return” game and, coming out of that, I was convinced Mac was the guy, even in the loss, because of the toughness and character he showed in that game.
But there’s a problem with Mac that’s become very hard to ignore over the last 1.5 seasons worth of football: he can’t beat quality opponents.
Yes, offensive line. Yes, WR’s. Yes, coaches. Sure, EVERYONE else is the problem. I’ll buy that for a second.
…but isn’t that called “adversity?” And don’t the premier quarterbacks in football - the ones he can’t beat - make a name for themselves in the moments where they face adversity and overcome it? Isn’t that the difference between the best quarterbacks in the NFL and the lifetime ~.500 ones?
If everything needs to be PERFECT for Mac to win, then why Mac? If everything is PERFECT, most average quarterbacks in the NFL will garner a lot of wins.
What I see in Mac is a kid that works hard, genuinely cares about being the best that he can be, but at the end of the day your record is your record, your numbers are your numbers, and the NFL isn’t a league where participation trophies win Super Bowls, sell season tickets, and keep fans engaged.
One other note: Mac threw several horrible deep passes yesterday. Why do so many of his supporters continuously gloss over it week after week? We know he doesn’t have a strong arm, but his deep passes are woefully inaccurate, slow to arrive, and 7-second heart attacks each time they’re heaved into the air like a Goodyear blimp.
If we had prime Randy Moss back there, could he even hit him?