The Patriots emasculated and embarrassed Jones in the Bils game last year and he hasn't been the same since. When the team has so little faith in you that they refuse to throw the ball, it is devastating for your confidence especially as a rookie.
What a dumb hot take.
Have you looked at the numbers?
In the 12 games before that game Mac's main numbers
70.34%, 16 TD's, 8 INT's, with a 97.1 passer rating and the Patriots were 8-4.
In the 4 regular season games after the Bills game
59.85%, 6 Td's, 5 INT's with a 79.7 passer rating and the Patriots were 1-3 (and the 1 which was a 3 TD/0 INT game was the awful post-Meyer Jaguars when the Pats scored 50).
In the playoff game
63.16%, 2 TD's, 2 INT's with a 75.8 passer rating
Thus far this season
65.98%, 2 TD's, 5 INT's with a 76.2 passer rating and the Patriots are 1-2
The simple reality is, since the Patriots threw the ball 3 times against the Bills, Mac Jones has looked like an entirely different QB and the team went from winning 2 out of 3 games to winning just 1 in 4 games. Now sure maybe that is just a coincidence and has absolutely no correlation at all, or maybe just maybe embarrassing your QB on national tv might not be the thing to do.
Eh. He had one terrible game late last year. The second Buffalo game really skewed things. 14-for-32, 2 INTs, 145 yards. When talking about a small sample size, that type of terrible performance can change averages quickly.
sure, he also had a great game mixed in there balancing it out. Patriots were 9-4 after that game and are 2-6 since. Something changed at that point and that game sure does seem like a good starting point. Mac was pretty bad in the 2 games right after, had the excellent game against the awful Jags, and hasn't had an even great game since. This is over 2 seasons and the 5 games last year was the same roster that started 9-4 and yet finished 1-4.
Again Mo, out of your element. You haven’t looked at the defense beginning to suck at that time as well. Judon disappeared. Can this be tied into your crazy theory about Mac?
Did Mac seem to lack confidence yesterday? I didn’t see any evidence of that.
Btw- you’ve dodged the Belichick question… a lot. Name a better GM.
There are several GM's that are better than Bill. Veach, Beane, DeCosta, Licht, Loomis, Roseman, Snead, Lynch, and a guy like Colbert (who just retired) was as well and there are certainly arguments for a guy like Grier (but he is pretty new). Bill isn't the worst GM in the league, but he isn't all that close to the top either. I absolutely think he could be if he wasn't coaching, but doing both jobs is just too hard.
How do you judge success?
I always thought winning was the ultimate metric. Putting together winning seasons and championships. Belichick may be the most detail oriented person in the NFL. He’s a boring old guy that loves the quirky little parts of history and has a particular view of what makes a good player and team. This often conflicts with the Mel Kipers of the world. Everyone hammered the Logan Mankins/Cole Strange picks. Not only does he zig when everyone zags, but he has 6 rings over 20 years. What’s the rebuttal to that Moranis?
There are all sorts of metrics on those things. The 3 main ones most commonly rated are: How you do with early round draft picks. How you do with late round draft picks. How you do with free agent signings. The next main rating metric, which isn't as common in the NFL, is of course trading. Bill has been a fairly solid late round drafter, he has been about average in trades, but he hasn't been nearly as good early in the draft or in free agency. The guys I listed all rate higher overall in those main rating categories. So that is how I would measure how good a GM is i.e. how well do they do in the draft, free agency, and trades and because the early rounds and late rounds are vastly different, most places separate those.
And obviously gold is correct, I do think Brady is far more important to the Patriots winning championships than Bill is, but Bill did draft and develop Brady so he has to get a lot of credit for that. I just think if Bill wasn't manning both the sideline and the front office, the Patriots would have a better roster right now and probably would have won even more championships. Doing either job at the NFL level is incredibly difficult, there just isn't enough time in the day to do both well at the same time.
