If BB deserves blame for how Mac turned out, it’s for not having a real offensive coaching staff last season, such that we wasted this year discovering that Mac wasn’t the guy, rather than knowing he wasn’t after last year.It is not remotely unusual to see backup QBs step in and contribute in the NFL. Even BB's Patriots saw it with Cassel and Jimmy G.
It is only in this "BB is God and everything he does must be right" frame that we think it is somehow unreasonable to expect a team with a shaky QB to find a better backup than a guy, Zappe, who doesn't even belong in the league.
Hell, Gardner Minshew is better than Mac and could have been signed for cheap a few months ago. Indy brought him in to be a backup. But, no, we can't fault the sainted Bill Belichick for not being able to do any better than Zappe.
I don't recall Mac so blatantly calling out the coaching staff in press conferences.Why do you think this? He has made comments like that his whole career.
I kinda doubt any correlation as well.I don't really buy the ankle injury splits. He had a stretch of bad games before that, and he had some of his better games after coming back.
Only split I really see is about 3/4 of the way through his rookie year teams with good defenses started to figure him out
I'm guessing the QB at Alabama could get a 4.0 in communications based on being able to speak. At all.I don't know if this says more about Mac or Alabama, but I just learned he majored in Communications with a 4.00 GPA.
COMMUNICATIONS!
I’m sure any dumbass on the football team who shows up for class and makes an effort to do his work will graduate, but I don’t think anyone is handing out straight A’s — it would be kind of obvious.I'm guessing the QB at Alabama could get a 4.0 in communications based on being able to speak. At all.
Let’s not exaggerate here, I’m positive that they can get a 7th round pick for Mac and a 5th.Guys get cut all the time despite cap hits. And no NFL team is giving you anything for him. Maybe the Rhein Fire might take a flyer.
Mac also got a Master's Degree in "sports hospitality" from Alabama.I’m sure any dumbass on the football team who shows up for class and makes an effort to do his work will graduate, but I don’t think anyone is handing out straight A’s — it would be kind of obvious.
Hurts was a good student at Bama, graduating in three years. His smarts translate to the football field. Mac’s don’t.
Where does "He stinks" come from? Grier's 1.2 game audition in Carolina games 4 years ago? Has he been fucking up in practice? Dude's entire playing career has been pocked by fits and starts. I guess maybe that's telling, but maybe he's never gotten a fair shake.I kinda doubt it. He stinks. He’s not even young, what’s to be gained?
i don't know how we count basketball but dwyane wade going off in a wheelchair for a shoulder dislocation comes to mind.That’s my thinking. Someone posted a video awhile back of Mac screaming going into a tunnel after an injury. I don’t want to get into some old fashioned toxic masculinity toughness test, but I can’t recall hardly any other examples of an athlete in a contact sport having that kind of reaction to pain. Perhaps him having a lower pain tolerance explains while he seems to break down under pressure while other QBs stand tall till the last second.
Fair enough. Terrible in limited in game action, and apparently unable to claim the backup spot fromWhere does "He stinks" come from? Grier's 1.2 game audition in Carolina games 4 years ago? Has he been fucking up in practice? Dude's entire playing career has been pocked by fits and starts. I guess maybe that's telling, but maybe he's never gotten a fair shake.
plunkett got sacked seemingly every play they threw him to the wolves with absolutely no offensive line he was completely shell shocked by the time the pats dumped him.i believe the 49ers sat him on the bench for a couple years to recuperate and get his mojo back..........kinda like what is happening to mac jonesDecided to quote these in the Mac thread instead of the BB thread, as the topic seemed more relevant here.
Any comparison is obviously imperfect, especially as there is some subjectivity involved. There are certainly Patriots QB's that have had objectively worse stints than Mac Jones has had. While some of them were backups or developmental players that did not work out, some of them, such as Mike Talieferro, were brought in to be actual starters. Talieferro even got named to the Pro Bowl for the 1969 season, one year before he and Joe Kapp combined to author one of the worst seasons of Patriots ineptitude. That 1970 team finished dead last in both offense and defense, and it wasn't particularly close either.
Mac is 7th among starting Patriots QBs in terms of games started at 41. Of those 7, Mac does have the 2nd best traditional passer rating. However, it's impossible to compare Mac's stats to those of Babe Parilli's from a defunct league with different rules. Still, of the remaining QB's above Mac, leaving out the obvious one:
- Bledsoe remains the 2nd best QB in New England history.
- Steve Grogan gets overrated among Pats fans; there were many seasons where he was just bad. But he brought a level of excitement seldom seen in New England and in his brief peak he could sling it while also converting first downs with his feet.
- Tony Eason was ominously picked the same draft slot as Mac Jones. Eason's peak in 1986 was actually quite good. But leading the league in sacks several years in a row early in his career led to back problems that derailed his career quickly.
- Jim Plunkett was the #1 overall pick, awarded to the Patriots thanks to the Talieferro/Kapp fiasco. He never came close to living up to the hype that went along with being the #1 pick fresh off a Heisman Trophy and Rose Bowl victory. I was too young to truly remember those days, but he was probably by far the most disappointing QB, a disappointment compounded by his winning 2 Lombardi's with the Raiders later on.
So, IMO, a tossup between Plunkett and Mac Jones in terms of biggest disappointments, and Mac doesn't have Plunkett's post-Patriots accomplishments to fall back on. So I think it's fair to say that Mac could be the worst among longer tenured Patriots QBs.
Stepping into a pocket, my heart flutters
This season does have a Groundhog Day vibe around it.Mac's future might be calling me asking if I'd like life insurance.
Well said : )Hey, fuck all you communication haters. Someone's gotta communicate.
I have no beef with this. But it will look this bad, if Mac sits for the rest of the season. McCourty's line about Zappe throwing the ball "into a Colts team meeting" was pretty accurate. It won't look any different on the field. But it will feel better.Mac's tenure with the Patriots is over.
Him getting benched yesterday is the end. This isn't like the other benchings, which were either injury related or in blowouts. This was a benching when the team still had a chance to win.
That said, Mac's tenure should be over. ANYONE but Mac. He's not the answer, he will never be the answer, so just fucking try something else. I don't care if it's worse. It still won't look this bad.
It already looks bad with Mac playing.I have no beef with this. But it will look this bad, if Mac sits for the rest of the season. McCourty's line about Zappe throwing the ball "into a Colts team meeting" was pretty accurate. It won't look any different on the field. But it will feel better.
No argument here. Addition by subtraction and all that. Just saying that we'll need to embrace the Zappe interceptions and dream of Marvin Harrison Jr.It already looks bad with Mac playing.
This team is the worst team in the AFC. It can't get worse and it's better to try something else because at this point, losing isn't the worst thing for the team as a whole.
And he wears Hostetler's number. Maybe BB's heart flutters.Stepping into a pocket, my heart flutters
Yes!!!!No argument here. Addition by subtraction and all that. Just saying that we'll need to embrace the Zappe interceptions and dream of Marvin Harrison Jr.
I'm not an NFL QB Coach, but can someone explain to me that at 35 seconds into the video, he goes to pass to a guy who's supposed to catch the ball, but he moves his front foot forwards and seems to "step into" the throw. Does that give him extra velocity on the ball? Why would he do that?Stepping into a pocket, my heart flutters
Hey, fuck all you communication haters. Someone's gotta communicate.
The only part about this that gives me pause is the shutting down of Mac for an "injury." Doesn't the NFL take an unkind view of this now? They'd have to prove the injury. I mean, they could make him the No 3 QB for the remainder of the season and it would have much the same effect.If I were a betting man, which I am, I think Grier starts in 2 weeks. Bill made a point about bringing him up saying he's been "running the practice squad," and that video of Mac walking to the X-Ray room was leaked for a reason. It would make more than a ton of sense to shut down Mac for the season due to "injury" and play Grier or Zappe or Cunningham and try to lose out without "trying" to lose out.
And they had Plunkett running quarterback keepers, naked bootlegs, whatever, until he got hurt. Worst quarterback abuse I've ever seen. I was so happy for Jim and his two Super Bowl wins even though it was with Oakland.plunkett got sacked seemingly every play they threw him to the wolves with absolutely no offensive line he was completely shell shocked by the time the pats dumped him.i believe the 49ers sat him on the bench for a couple years to recuperate and get his mojo back..........kinda like what is happening to mac jones
Guess it depends on your definition of proof? Don't see the NFL climbing down Chicago's throats for updates on Justin Fields thumb that has now kept it out for over a month. They just keep saying stuff like this week after week:The only part about this that gives me pause is the shutting down of Mac for an "injury." Doesn't the NFL take an unkind view of this now? They'd have to prove the injury. I mean, they could make him the No 3 QB for the remainder of the season and it would have much the same effect.
I just brought it up because I was reading something the other day about the NFL investigating the Falcons and how they handled an injury report on Bijan Robinson. Probably a nothing burger.Guess it depends on your definition of proof? Don't see the NFL climbing down Chicago's throats for updates on Justin Fields thumb that has now kept it out for over a month. They just keep saying stuff like this week after week:
"We just need more time," Eberflus told reporters (via Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk). "We need team [drills] work, we need that and we'll eventually get there. We're just not there right now."
Fields has missed Chicago's past four games, while the Bears have gone 2-2 in that stretch.
Fields has gone through individual drills in practice, but he has yet to appear in any 11-on-11 scrimmages. Eberflus wasn't ready to give any indication about a potential return for the 24-year-old, but he revealed that there would be more clarity about his status on Wednesday.
That said, I have no idea if Mac is hurt or not. Him heading to the X-Ray room, seems to indicate there might be something. What is the NFL rule for allowable missed games due to a paper cut, because I'm sure someone can make that happen?
I think that was more the opposite. They didn't put him on the injury report, so when he played only 11 snaps, the NFL got big mad because it didn't make them look good with their gambling partners.I just brought it up because I was reading something the other day about the NFL investigating the Falcons and how they handled an injury report on Bijan Robinson. Probably a nothing burger.
Mac Jones, questionable, arm, headTom Brady, probable, shoulder.
This had to be all pre-season right? playing against the scrubs? It reminds me of college hype videos; guys are wiiiiide open.
Yeah that's why I suggested the No 3 alternative. It avoids any possibility of questions being raised. No one will doubt why he'd been benched. Probably something some of us would consider more than Belichick would careI think the only potential issue would be if Mac objected. Then the NFLPA might get involved. But I would doubt that would happen.
He could win us a couple of gamesThat said, sign me up to see what happens in a real game. What do we have to lose at this point?
I read the scout team comment from Bill the other way. I believe Bill was asked about Grier, Bill didn't offer it up on his own. I read it as, Grier has only run the scout team, done it well, but not a viable starter at this point. Maybe I'm wrong.If I were a betting man, which I am, I think Grier starts in 2 weeks. Bill made a point about bringing him up saying he's been "running the practice squad," and that video of Mac walking to the X-Ray room was leaked for a reason. It would make more than a ton of sense to shut down Mac for the season due to "injury" and play Grier or Zappe or Cunningham and try to lose out without "trying" to lose out.
You are thinking about Matt Corral. He left the team without notice the night before the start of the seasonWas there something about Will Grier a month or 6 weeks ago about not being available or some sort of weird thing? Or was that some other 3rd / 4th string quarterback?
Thanks. Interesting coincidence that they were both with the Panthers at some point.You are thinking about Matt Corral. He left the team without notice the night before the start of the season
Well, the title is literally "preseason highlights" so I'm gonna go with yes.This had to be all pre-season right? playing against the scrubs?
LOL. This totally reminds me of the highlight videos my son makes for lacrosse. Is Will Grier trying to get recruited too?