NFL 2021 Season

[Phantom255x]

Annoying loss especially due to the fumbles, BUT I leave that game still feeling good. Can't imagine the sloppy turnovers last all season (I hope), and Mac Jones looked like the real deal. He'll be special 

Even with guys barreling towards him on some plays  he hung in there and delivered 10+ yard completions downfield. Awesome stuff.

Hate to bash him because he is a great guy, but as a QB lets be honest Cam Newton's not making a lot of the throws Mac did today. It was refreshing to see a QB make good throws even if some of them were to open guys and not flashy, because those were the same kinds of throws Cam missed last season often.

Anyways, on to the Jets!

[footey]

Mac Jones looks like the real deal.  Very impressed with his poise, decision making, accuracy and processing speed. Even looked quite nimble in the pocket, which was a concern of mine going in.  The loss was tough, but just need to clean up on mistakes.  Very winnable game. Future looks very bright.

[Neurotic Guy]

Mac Jones looks like the real deal.  Very impressed with his poise, decision making, accuracy and processing speed. Even looked quite nimble in the pocket, which was a concern of mine going in.  The loss was tough, but just need to clean up on mistakes.  Very winnable game. Future looks very bright.

Yeah -- a win would have been nice but this seems to me to be a team that's going to grow together over the course of the year... if healthy. 

Mac was light years better than anything I saw from Cam last year.

[Phantom255x]

Mac Jones looks like the real deal.  Very impressed with his poise, decision making, accuracy and processing speed. Even looked quite nimble in the pocket, which was a concern of mine going in.  The loss was tough, but just need to clean up on mistakes.  Very winnable game. Future looks very bright.

Yeah -- a win would have been nice but this seems to me to be a team that's going to grow together over the course of the year... if healthy. 

Mac was light years better than anything I saw from Cam last year.

Yeah Mac looked calm, poised and confident all throughout.

Really if those two fumbles didn't happen when they did today, the Pats probably could have put up 24+ today. Not Mac's fault. Also while I thought the playcalling today was mostly fine, there were instances in the 2nd half I was wondering why the hell they tried tosses to the runningback on the outside in early downs. Like, on 2 of those plays Miami had like 3-4 defenders just unblocked waiting for the guy lol. Was annoying to see and IIRC on one drive, they did that but it didn't work and then they ultimately had to settle on a FG to make it 17-16

[nickagneta]

Mac Jones looks like the real deal.  Very impressed with his poise, decision making, accuracy and processing speed. Even looked quite nimble in the pocket, which was a concern of mine going in.  The loss was tough, but just need to clean up on mistakes.  Very winnable game. Future looks very bright.

Yeah -- a win would have been nice but this seems to me to be a team that's going to grow together over the course of the year... if healthy. 

Mac was light years better than anything I saw from Cam last year.

Yeah Mac looked calm, poised and confident all throughout.

Really if those two fumbles didn't happen when they did today, the Pats probably could have put up 24+ today. Not Mac's fault. Also while I thought the playcalling today was mostly fine, there were instances in the 2nd half I was wondering why the hell they tried tosses to the runningback on the outside in early downs. Like, on 2 of those plays Miami had like 3-4 defenders just unblocked waiting for the guy lol. Was annoying to see and IIRC on one drive, they did that but it didn't work and then they ultimately had to settle on a FG to make it 17-16

Regarding those running plays, we are spoiled in that, for over a decade, the Pats had a QB that could read those defenses and check out of such terrible runs.

Now, defenses blew up the Pats running offense a lot in Brady's time, but it could have happened countless times more, if Brady wasn't Brady and didn't audible out of those plays

Mac will see these things and do them eventually. Once the knowledge sinks in and the game slows down for him, he will be able to audible out of such terrible run calls. It's only game one in his career after all.

[Ed Monix]

I have loved Mac Jones even before the Pats drafted him. The reason I loved him is the same reason he looked good today, composure in the pocket.

This is something him and Brady share, they are surrounded by chaos and yet have this calmness in their progressions which is very uncommon.

Although I’m sure Trevor Lawrence will improve over the course of the season, today he seemed to panic in the pocket when it collapsed. Instead of calmly dumping it for an incomplete pass, he tended to dangerously heave it.

[nickagneta]

I have loved Mac Jones even before the Pats drafted him. The reason I loved him is the same reason he looked good today, composure in the pocket.

This is something him and Brady share, they are surrounded by chaos and yet have this calmness in their progressions which is very uncommon.

Although I’m sure Trevor Lawrence will improve over the course of the season, today he seemed to panic in the pocket when it collapsed. Instead of calmly dumping it for an incomplete pass, he tended to dangerously heave it.

To be fair, Mac Jones did try to throw an incompletion at the feet of his RB to avoid a sack.....problem being, his RB was behind him and Mac basically threw a fumble.

[SparzWizard]

The entire NFC North went 0-4 today.

The new NFC East?

Meanwhile, the NFC West are a perfect 4-0. They remain the toughest division in football.

[Ed Monix]

I have loved Mac Jones even before the Pats drafted him. The reason I loved him is the same reason he looked good today, composure in the pocket.

This is something him and Brady share, they are surrounded by chaos and yet have this calmness in their progressions which is very uncommon.

Although I’m sure Trevor Lawrence will improve over the course of the season, today he seemed to panic in the pocket when it collapsed. Instead of calmly dumping it for an incomplete pass, he tended to dangerously heave it.

To be fair, Mac Jones did try to throw an incompletion at the feet of his RB to avoid a sack.....problem being, his RB was behind him and Mac basically threw a fumble.

My apologies, I must have missed that play.

Lawerence did seem much less composed than Jones IMO, he only completed 54.9% of his passes in comparison to Jones' 74.3%.

[jambr380]

I have loved Mac Jones even before the Pats drafted him. The reason I loved him is the same reason he looked good today, composure in the pocket.

This is something him and Brady share, they are surrounded by chaos and yet have this calmness in their progressions which is very uncommon.

Although I’m sure Trevor Lawrence will improve over the course of the season, today he seemed to panic in the pocket when it collapsed. Instead of calmly dumping it for an incomplete pass, he tended to dangerously heave it.

To be fair, Mac Jones did try to throw an incompletion at the feet of his RB to avoid a sack.....problem being, his RB was behind him and Mac basically threw a fumble.

My apologies, I must have missed that play.

Lawerence did seem much less composed than Jones IMO, he only completed 54.9% of his passes in comparison to Jones' 74.3%.

Lawrence wasn't good. He even got a freebie TD to end the game because Jax was getting so blown out.

That last fumble was a killer for the Pats, but the first one wasn't even a fumble. It was one of those circumstances where I hate the idea that they won't overturn the call on the field due to it being inconclusive. How about it being so close that you shouldn't take the ball away from one team and give it to the other? The refs never really saw it in the first place, we shouldn't have to go along with their original call - which was a guess anyway.

Anyway, hard to make any conclusions about being a future franchise QB after one game, but I thought Mac looked great. Looking forward to the team loosening the reins on him a little as the season progresses.

[Moranis]

Mac Jones dinked and dunked his way to a high completion percentage, but it is also why the Patriots couldn't score in the red zone and only scored 16 points in a losing effort.  The Patriots aren't good enough to game manage their way to a good season.  If they are going to have any real success, they need to take the training wheels off and let Jones go.  Maybe Jones can't do that, but if he does, that is the only real way for New England to have any real meaningful success this season.

[Goldstar88]

Mac Jones dinked and dunked his way to a high completion percentage, but it is also why the Patriots couldn't score in the red zone and only scored 16 points in a losing effort.  The Patriots aren't good enough to game manage their way to a good season.  If they are going to have any real success, they need to take the training wheels off and let Jones go.  Maybe Jones can't do that, but if he does, that is the only real way for New England to have any real meaningful success this season.

They did score in the red zone. Mac through a TD pass to Nelson Agholor. The reason they lost is because that RB’s couldn't hold on to the ball. I do think there will be more passing Plays in future games, though.. Mac looked great and he outperformed Tua. Also had a better game than Wilson or Lawrence.

[Atzar]

Mac Jones dinked and dunked his way to a high completion percentage, but it is also why the Patriots couldn't score in the red zone and only scored 16 points in a losing effort.  The Patriots aren't good enough to game manage their way to a good season.  If they are going to have any real success, they need to take the training wheels off and let Jones go.  Maybe Jones can't do that, but if he does, that is the only real way for New England to have any real meaningful success this season.

I definitely thought the play-calling was very safe.  Felt like they basically conceded any drive where they got behind the chains, just to keep Jones out of a situation where he might force something and make a mistake. 

I agree; that won't work long-term.  Trying to get him a positive first game to build on is one thing.  Being afraid of your own players is another.  I hope we just saw the former instead of the latter.

[Moranis]

Mac Jones dinked and dunked his way to a high completion percentage, but it is also why the Patriots couldn't score in the red zone and only scored 16 points in a losing effort.  The Patriots aren't good enough to game manage their way to a good season.  If they are going to have any real success, they need to take the training wheels off and let Jones go.  Maybe Jones can't do that, but if he does, that is the only real way for New England to have any real meaningful success this season.

They did score in the red zone. Mac through a TD pass to Nelson Agholor. The reason they lost is because that RB’s couldn't hold on to the ball. I do think there will be more passing Plays in future games, though.. Mac looked great and he outperformed Tua. Also had a better game than Wilson or Lawrence.

The Patriots won the time of possession basically 37 to 23, outgained Miami basically 400 to 260, and had 24 first downs to 16.  They weren't as clean committing significantly more penalties and having the 2 turnovers to 1, but the difference in the game was Miami was 2 for 2 in the red zone and New England was 1 of 4 (for TD's).   They just didn't trust Jones.  I'd rather see a team let a QB go all out like Jacksonville did and deal with the growing pains of a young QB who needs that experience.  If they are going to keep the training wheels on Mac, they aren't going to have a very good year and will keep losing games that statistically they dominate.

[MarcusSmartFanClub]

Mac Jones dinked and dunked his way to a high completion percentage, but it is also why the Patriots couldn't score in the red zone and only scored 16 points in a losing effort.  The Patriots aren't good enough to game manage their way to a good season.  If they are going to have any real success, they need to take the training wheels off and let Jones go.  Maybe Jones can't do that, but if he does, that is the only real way for New England to have any real meaningful success this season.

They did score in the red zone. Mac through a TD pass to Nelson Agholor. The reason they lost is because that RB’s couldn't hold on to the ball. I do think there will be more passing Plays in future games, though.. Mac looked great and he outperformed Tua. Also had a better game than Wilson or Lawrence.

The Patriots won the time of possession basically 37 to 23, outgained Miami basically 400 to 260, and had 24 first downs to 16.  They weren't as clean committing significantly more penalties and having the 2 turnovers to 1, but the difference in the game was Miami was 2 for 2 in the red zone and New England was 1 of 4 (for TD's).   They just didn't trust Jones.  I'd rather see a team let a QB go all out like Jacksonville did and deal with the growing pains of a young QB who needs that experience.  If they are going to keep the training wheels on Mac, they aren't going to have a very good year and will keep losing games that statistically they dominate.

Did you see Brady's stats in his first couple of years? Bill managed that guy big time.