Film Room: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from Mac Jones’ Week 10 Collapse

Fans are once again calling for Mac Jones to be benched. He’d begun to crawl back from two disastrous early-season blowouts, but regular composure, accuracy, and judgment lapses persisted. Unfortunately, no one is more at fault for Jones’ failings than his team. Following a strong rookie campaign for the former Alabama signal-caller, the Patriots’ failure to provide him with a stable front or difference-making receivers has chipped away at his confidence, leaving a shell of his former self.

Jones’ supporting cast has done him few favors, and there are flashes of good quarterback play every week. But he’s made himself impossible to defend by turning the ball over at the highest rate in the league and missing game-changing opportunities despite a razor-thin margin for error.

Jones’ performance against the Colts was similarly mixed, with many positive reps undermined by a few monumental mistakes. Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly from Jones’ performance, as well as my thoughts on benching him for Bailey Zappe long-term.

The Good

Mac Jones followed a conservative script on Sunday, averaging a season-low 4.3 air yards per throw, and attempting three passes that traveled 10+ yards. Of his 27 dropbacks, 13 were screens, quick game, or included play action. While Bill O’Brien’s game plan didn’t ask Jones to do much, he executed it well for most of the contest.

The quarterback looked good on his longer-developing dropbacks. He completed three tight-window throws, bought time to hit Hunter Henry after a quick pressure, and took off on well-timed scrambles when downfield options were smothered. He also had some impressive reps on quicker attempts, throwing Gesicki open on New England’s first 3rd down of the game, hitting Demario Douglas on a Juke route before getting sawed in half, and not flinching with two rushers bearing down to convert a late 3rd & 6.

Jones maneuvered pressure and tight coverage well for most of the game, but he couldn’t overcome a season-worst pass-blocking performance from the offensive line.

The Bad

New England’s biggest issue for most of the game was pressure, particularly in the 1st half. After allowing a pressure rate below 35% four weeks in a row, which happened in fewer than half of their prior games, the offensive line took a big step back in Germany.

The group allowed pressure on 51.8% of snaps with Jones under center, their highest rate since 50% in both Week 4 in Dallas and Week 5 against the Saints. He was also knocked down on over 20% of dropbacks (25.9%) for the first time this season.

Jones was sacked a season-high five times in the 1st half alone. He was also hit on his first dropback of the game, which featured one of Cole Strange’s many quick losses to DeForest Buckner.

Sacks can be a deceitful stat that masks poor execution from quarterbacks, but I thought all of Jones’ sacks resulted from near-instant pressure. While Conor McDermott and Mike Onwenu weren’t perfect, Jones often had nowhere to step up due to interior pressure.

Sidy Sow lost quickly against an inside move, David Andrews got pushed back on a twist, and Cole Strange and Conor McDermott failed to pass off a twist. You could argue Jones should’ve thrown short to Henry on a 3rd & 4 in the 2nd quarter, but he didn’t have many clear reads before dealing with pass rushers.

Jones also took a pair of sacks where his protection and the play design let him down, with the first ending a promising first drive.

Mike Onwenu gives up pressure off the right edge, but Buckner quickly disposes of Strange and gives the quarterback nowhere to step up. But when looking at Jones’ concept, all three routes also break in the same area. Henry and Douglas’ routes are smothered, and the spacing of New England’s receivers eliminates any hope of an anticipation throw to JuJu Smith-Schuster’s out route.

The second example of play design contributing to a sack came midway through the 2nd quarter.

The Patriots’ play-action protection scheme results in Rhamondre Stevenson having to block a defensive end. Jones seems to load up for the corner route to Henry, but Stevenson fails to get Odeyingbo down on a cut block, taking away any chance at a throw. Smith-Schuster and Gesicki’s routes are also too close for the sit route to have been a viable option.

Despite this onslaught, it’s hard to find fault in the quarterback’s 1st-half performance. His only egregious mistake was a rough completion to Douglas on a quick out, but Buckner was also hugging Jones in under two seconds. While Jones was mostly serviceable in the 2nd half, early hits took a toll on his poise and decision-making at critical moments.

The Ugly

Entering Week 10, only the Dolphins and 49ers had higher Red Zone conversion rates than the Patriots. The offense has struggled to reach scoring territory, but they’ve been lethal in limited opportunities. However, in their worst performance this season, New England went 0-4 inside the Colts’ 20-yard line. Besides the aforementioned sack exacerbated by poor spacing, these failures were Jones’ three worst plays.

The snowball started on Jones’ first attempt of the 3rd quarter, with New England facing 3rd & 3 after six straight runs.

The offense comes out in a condensed look from shotgun, which the Colts counter with a straightforward Cover 2 zone. Henry’s seam route is an ideal target with the deep middle of the field being open, especially when middle linebacker Zaire Franklin bites on Douglas’ shallow crosser. Things get murky when the Colts’ edge rushers condense the pocket, and Sidy Sow gives up interior pressure, but Jones has space to make an anticipatory throw or at least hit Stevenson on the checkdown. Instead, he drops his eyes to the rush, crouches to attempt an escape, and wildly flicks a checkdown.

Bill O’Brien ripped into Jones on the sideline after this play, seemingly frustrated that his quarterback passed up open receivers.

Jones’ misses got progressively worse, with the next being a near-pick in the end zone that was early and inaccurate despite protection holding up.

Jones was ultimately benched after one of the worst throws of his career, which saw him throw off his back foot and short-arm a potential game-winning layup to Gesicki.

Sandwiched between these end-zone misfires, Jones also had a forced throw to Henry that could’ve been intercepted.

Putting Bailey Zappe in cold on the game’s final drive was a highly debatable call. But it illustrated a breaking point after weeks of mind-boggling errors from the team’s starter.

The Verdict

I understand fans wanting to see someone else at quarterback for the Patriots. After Jones’ poor play through ten weeks, the Patriots have no choice but to look for a potential successor next offseason. But in 2023, the reality is that New England doesn’t have anyone better behind him.

If Jones is no longer the starter post-bye week, I think it could mean one or two things:

1. Bill Belichick wants to send a message that hurting the team with poor ball security won’t be tolerated.
2. The organization believes more playing time would further hurt Jones’ confidence.

If Belichick is serious about turning this ship around, showing there are consequences for poor play could instill a sense of urgency and light a fire under the team. That said, Zappe and Will Grier are career backups. I doubt either would last a full half if you put them behind an inconsistent line with a below-average group of receivers. Bill Belichick credited Zappe with doing some positive things, but his interception was just as perplexing as Jones’.

The best-case scenario would be Zappe or Grier doing the bare minimum and protecting the football, but what purpose does that serve in a lost season? Zappe being exposed to waivers showed he probably isn’t in the long-term plans, and Grier is on a one-year deal.

As a former 1st-rounder in the last year of his rookie contract, Jones is the only quarterback in the room with a chance of contributing in 2024. You either stick with him to see if there’s a glimmer of hope for future development, or nothing changes, and you fail your way to a top pick.

If there’s genuine concern that Jones is no longer cutting it mentally, hit the eject button. Destroying a young player’s confidence doesn’t help anyone. But until that becomes undeniable, the Patriots might have to bite the bullet and stick with Jones for the last seven games.