Watch CBS News

Mac Jones had a crazy day even before injury and other leftover Patriots thoughts

Sports Final: Concerns about Mac Jones' injury -- and quarterback's comfort in Patriots offense
Sports Final: Concerns about Mac Jones' injury -- and quarterback's comfort in Patriots offense 07:04

BOSTON -- For years (and years and years and years), the calling card of the Patriots' offense was its reliability. With a perfect pocket passer in Tom Brady, the offense relied on precise assignments and focused execution. While having Brady obviously played a significant role, everyone did their part. If they didn't, they didn't last long. The end result was a consistent offense.

It dipped significantly in 2020, but it rebounded tremendously in 2021, even with rookie Mac Jones under center. With Josh McDaniels pulling the levers, the quarterback was put in position to succeed. And even though the Patriots didn't set any offensive records ... they ranked sixth in the NFL in points scored, and finished in the top half of the league in yardage. With a rookie QB at the helm, that's pretty good -- and it's the mark of a consistent, reliable system.

This year, the consistency and reliability has been replaced with freneticism. It's difficult to foresee what each play will bring, and that seems to be the case for those of us on the outside as well as for the players on the field.

One bit of evidence for that can be found in Mac Jones' sudden proclivity to take off running. Nobody would ever confuse Jones for a mobile quarterback, but he scrambled five times on Sunday, one week after rushing four times last week in Pittsburgh (not counting his three kneeldowns). Running the ball is never a first, second, or even third option for Jones. Yet when he's not reliably finding guys open down the field, and when he knows his pocket is collapsing, the safety valve gets pulled. (He did score his first rushing touchdown as a result, which was pretty slick.)

Even on plays where Jones isn't running, he's still being forced to create. Just look at the fourth-and-1 play early in the fourth quarter, a snap which came after the Patriots took a timeout to get themselves set up to run their play the way they wanted. 

It's hard to tell what they wanted, though, because once the ball was snapped, all hell broke loose.

Jones ran a play-fake for Rhamondre Stevenson, though the running back was nowhere near him. Stevenson got picked up by Patrick Queen in coverage. DeVante Parker was covered up the field. Lil'Jordan Humphrey had a step on his man, running a slant toward the rolled-out Jones, but the QB couldn't see him. By the time Jones did see Humphrey, it was too late.

So Jones did what he did for most of the afternoon. He ran wild.

Jones doubled back to his left, running away from a defender before finding Jonnu Smith, who most certainly was not a part of the play design. The two connected and the drive continued ... but it came only after chaos.

If the Patriots had a mega-athlete at QB -- sort of like the Ravens do -- then a play like this might be more commonplace and borderline reliable. But coming out of a timeout, this isn't at all what the Patriots should be looking to do.

It's all part of the big picture when it comes to Jones, who just hasn't looked comfortable this year, when he should have been taking steps forward after a promising rookie season. Now, his growth will be further stunted by his ankle injury. But with the way rushers have come free to hit him, and with the way the game has not looked easy for him this season, it's hard to state with full confidence that Jones was making much progress to begin with.

The arm talent and accuracy are still there, but an uncertain offensive operation has brought on some skittishness. There's just a very shaky comfort level with the offense. And the results have been rough.

Jones has now played in 17.6 percent of the games (3) he played last year (17). He's thrown 38.5 percent of the interceptions (5) that he threw last year (13). He's also thrown passes directly to defenders in consecutive weeks on plays that didn't result in interceptions. His passer rating has dropped from 92.5 to 76.2. He's thrown just two touchdowns. It's not going well.

Perhaps in that sense, the injury can serve as a reset of sorts. Missing time is never a good thing, per se. But given the environment he's been put into this year without McDaniels guiding him, the second-year QB was moving backward anyway.

Now, the leftover thoughts from the Patriots' 37-26 loss to the Ravens.

--Mac did have some nice throws that are worth another look, though. One came off play-action, which has been woefully absent from the Patriots' offense this season.

This one was good, too.

Unfortunately for Mac, for as long as throws like this ...

... and this ...

... and this one ...

Patrick Queen
Patrick Queen drops an easy interception. GIF from NFL+

keep happening, they will be the overriding story on his progression as a QB.

--The Patriots went for two in the fourth quarter, a play that involved a completion ... that lost yardage.

They also went for it on a fourth-and-3 and completed a pass ... for zero yards.

That fourth-down effort came at the end of a real head-scratching sequence.

Situational football, formerly a calling card of the Patriots, remains a struggle.

--It speaks to how ridiculous Lamar Jackson is that you could point to maybe 12-20 defensive plays from the Patriots that indicated they were doing a very good job against him. Alas ... Jackson threw for four touchdowns, ran for another, and barely broke a sweat.

For as much as that might sting, there has to be an acknowledgment that Lamar Jackson looking for hundreds of millions of dollars is a unique opponent to face. While we tend to view everything through a Patriots lens here, the MVP-caliber of play from Jackson can't be ignored when assessing this game.

Plus, if Nelson Agholor simply does not fumble, it's a different game. And if the Patriots don't give three extra possessions during the meat of the game, it's a different day.

So I wouldn't harp too much on the defense. Devin McCourty was literally inside the sternum of Mark Andrews for the tight end's second touchdown grab. 

Mark Andrews
Mark Andrews catches a touchdown pass, despite Devin McCourty's best effort. Maddie Meyer / Getty Images

Andrews' first touchdown was the result of some really nifty play design.

Long story short, the Ravens offense will score some points. The issue in allowing 37 comes from the offense turning it over and adding stress to the defense.

--Long before he got hurt, Mac Jones found himself lying on the train tracks like a damsel in distress. Then he got hit by the train.

Mac Jones
Mac Jones, lead blocker GIF from NFL+

Mac might not have much experience as a blocker 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. Gotta respect the hustle.

--Vince Wilfork was honored at halftime, one day after getting inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame. Robert Kraft made a brief speech. He said something along the lines of the Thanksgiving game from 2012 being an unforgettable memory, "No ifs, ands or BUTTS about it."

Robert Kraft, Vince Wilfork
Robert Kraft, Vince Wilfork Adam Glanzman / Getty Images
Robert Kraft
Robert Kraft Maddie Meyer / Getty Images

Folks. The butts. The butt fumble. Classic.

--Obviously, the Ravens got a big win, so there's no room for ha-ha laughing at anyone in purple. So I'll frame it like this: I sincerely appreciate John Harbaugh's commitment to the bit. Chewing out an official because Nick Folk got to send a practice kick toward the upright long after Baltimore called timeout to ice him was just so on the nose for Harbaugh. The fact that Folk missed that practice kick but drilled the one that counted was kind of a chef's kiss resolution to the situation, too.

John Harbaugh
John Harbaugh argues with an official. Patrick Smith / Getty Images
John Harbaugh
John Harbaugh argues with an official. Patrick Smith / Getty Images

(Those pictures are from a week earlier, but you know, same thing.)

This was, of course, the same sideline where Harbaugh was so distraught about the four lineman/eligible/ineligible trick in the 2014 playoffs that he stomped onto the field and disrupted the game. That was his Mona Lisa. This one on Sunday was a more minor work, yes, but the art of a true great can always be admired.

--Remember when the Patriots were always so disciplined that they could basically sit back and wait for their opponent to screw up? Those days appear to be long gone.

In this one, they had 12 men on the field in goal line defense. Did it have a huge impact? Probably not. It was a 1-yard penalty. But it speaks to the disorganization that's plagued the team now, going back a year or two.

They also had an illegal formation penalty on Isaiah Wynn, which turned a third-and-1 at midfield into a second-and-12, ultimately leading to a punt. They had to burn a timeout before a third-and-9 play in the second quarter, and they had to waste a second-half timeout early in the fourth quarter before a fourth-and-1.

Back in Week 1, Carl Davis lined up right over the football but still jumped offside on a Miami fourth-and-1. Trent Brown committed a hold on a fourth-and-3 when Miami only rushed three. The Patriots also had too many men on the field on a third-and-2 in that game as well.

It's not necessarily a new issue, but it will nevertheless always be jarring to see the Patriots as the less-disciplined team on the field.

--Long-term outlook? It's TBD. We all did the doomsday stuff last year after four weeks, when we said the Patriots had to go 2-2 at worst to start the year. At 2-4 in mid-October, it was certainly time to stick a fork in them. But then they took advantage of a soft schedule, caught a few breaks, and won seven straight football games to finish with 10 wins.

Is a similar path possible this year? Technically yes. Yet if you're watching this team closely, it's awfully difficult to think they're progressing forward rather than sliding backward. And though Mac has not been an asset this season, losing him for a stretch won't make the team any better, either.

We won't really know what's what after next week, because we'll all reasonably conclude that beating Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay is a difficult task. Much like winning in Miami was. Really, it's the stretch from Weeks 5-9 that will tell us what the Patriots are. A home date vs. the pesky Lions, a trip to Cleveland to face the surprisingly competent Browns, a Monday night home date vs. the Bears (who are bad), a trip to New Jersey to face what will be an inspired Jets team, and then a home date vs. the thus-far-underperforming Colts to close out their pre-bye schedule.

If you're mapping that all out and have the Patriots sitting at, say, 5-4? Then you've got a football season. But if the Lions game or the Jets game get away from them and that record flips? There's the real potential that for the second time in three years, the season is all but over by Thanksgiving.

That's perhaps gloomy, but it's impossible to deny that it's a very real possibility.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.