The Michael McCorkle "Mac" Jones Thread

GB5

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SMU I am curious as to your thoughts on Mac after 6 games relative to what you thought we were getting after your draft review. Your stuff is a treasure on this board by the way.

a few of the things you seemed to notice on his college tape that you marked as negatives, I find are amongst his greatest qualities. You noted that he wasn’t great with ball placement in college. I find his ball placement to be elite. I don’t have numbers but just from what I am watching, but I get the sense that this kid could throw a football into a coffee cup from 30 yards away. His throws always seem catchable and exactly where they should be.

His processing also seems to be very good, as he hangs in the pocket and goes through his reads and seems to make good decisions.

You also noted that his play, I think suggesting it’s inconsistent, is what you get from rookies. I confess to being a Mac guy, but I like what I have seen from him more than some repetitively bad decisions I have watched from Wilson, Fields and Lawrence(who seems to be improving). He may not have the ceiling of those guys but to me he has shown to be more ready than any of them.

I know it’s certainly a short sample size but Lawrence was the clear no.1 and should be, but after that it seemed like
Wilson

Fields
Mac

do you feel the league personnel would feel the same way? Do you feel the same way? Has Mac closed the gap on any of them.

I have been trying to think of a comp for Mac and I keep seeing cousins over and over.

The name that keeps coming to me is Chad Pennington. Most will say that this is unfavorable, but he was a pretty good qb when healthy.
 

SeoulSoxFan

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To add, Lazar often mentioned Mac's footwork as one of the things he needs to work on.

He seems to lapse at times and throw off his back foot, causing the ball to sail higher. I believe this is what happened in a couple of occasions, including the ill-fated pick-6 throw. I believe this happened a bit during his senior year at Alabama as well.

Is this something that we can only expect to see improve until he has a full off-season to work on?
 

Eddie Jurak

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View: https://twitter.com/ezlazar/status/1450161286294261770?s=20

Evan Lazar: Sucks to see it happen in a losing effort but this was the best game of Mac Jones's NFL career to date: 92.7 @PFF passing grade, 10.9 YPA, +9.9 CPOE, three big-time throws, 4-for-4 on deep throws, 110.4 rating under pressure. Really strong performance by Mac. The #Patriots were only 2-for-6 passing on third down. So that is the one knock on Mac (not all his fault but need to be better there overall). Still, he was really good.
 

DJnVa

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This would have been his best...



And I am NOT dumping on Agholor there. WRs drop passes, but man, he had some room. There's a chance that's a walk off TD.
 

BaseballJones

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The safety at the 45 yard line was set up well to make the tackle but if somehow he missed...then Agholor was GONE.
 

Cellar-Door

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This would have been his best...

most important maybe, but the Meyers throw was insanely good QB play, to shift in the pocket and get a lot on a weird angle throw, knowing he's probably gonna get hit. I think the soft touch and anticipation on the Henry throw were more impressive too.

Honestly I thought with a few exceptions Mac played really well yesterday, probably his best game of the year.
 

SMU_Sox

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@GB5 he still has mechanical issues leading to inaccurate throws but his ball placement and accuracy has in general been excellent. Check out his footwork pre strip sack and post strip sack. I think he doesn't always step and drive into throws right when he is rushing. That can lead to balls sailing or dying depending on what he is trying to do. So for example on the INT to Diggs that ball is high and outside against a corner with inside leverage over the top so if Bourne can't catch it even if he doesn't tip it it is an INT. The throw to Agholor on 3rd and 3 in OT was a) the wrong read/decision, and b) an inaccurate throw. Again check his footwork there - it's not what you want. I say these things but out of the other side of my mouth I am going to tell you it's ok. Mac is going to work with Tom House or whoever this off-season and be like Brady and just rep and rep and rep his mechanics. He knows it is an issue. He has gotten better at playing more patiently - yes he gets the ball out quick but not so quick he misses things. All in all his game vs Dallas was his best of the year yet. I still have concerns with Mac but there is a lot to be positive about and he is clearly outperforming all the other rookies.

I kind of see the season like Return of the Jedi. The New Death Star (the offense) is still being put together but what protects it (the shield//the-OL) we thought going into the season was protected by the Emperor's finest troops. Those finest troops are getting beaten like they did on the moon on Endor.

Quick edit: I know Agholor was held/face-masked - even still that throw was off.
 
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SMU_Sox

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On the Agholor read/decision, I know there is some debate on it. It's not a bad decision but I am piecing what I got from Lombardi and others they wanted him to wait for Meyers. In the endzone view you can see that if Agholor isn't held he probably gets that pass. Also, the footwork is ok there. I just rewatched it. The pass isn't perfect but it's good enough for Agholor and only Agholor to have a chance at it.
 

SMU_Sox

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Kendrick Bourne admitted he ran a one-step slant vs a 3 step slant on the INT. Wasn’t even Mac’s fault. That’s the hard thing with watching tape is you don’t know this kind of stuff. When a play doesn’t work you have to figure out what the call was and even then if you know it’s a slant you don’t know if it is a one step or three step.
 

FredJones

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Kendrick Bourne admitted he ran a one-step slant vs a 3 step slant on the INT. Wasn’t even Mac’s fault. That’s the hard thing with watching tape is you don’t know this kind of stuff. When a play doesn’t work you have to figure out what the call was and even then if you know it’s a slant you don’t know if it is a one step or three step.
I'm not very familiar with route running. Does that mean the pass would have gone more to the outside, reducing the chances of the defender picking it off?
 

rodderick

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Kendrick Bourne admitted he ran a one-step slant vs a 3 step slant on the INT. Wasn’t even Mac’s fault. That’s the hard thing with watching tape is you don’t know this kind of stuff. When a play doesn’t work you have to figure out what the call was and even then if you know it’s a slant you don’t know if it is a one step or three step.
He's protecting his QB. It made no sense for him to run a 3 step slant there, he would've basically run into the defender and made the window much tighter. Was still wide open and Mac had ample time to adjust the timing and throw him a better ball. It helps explain why the pass was high, but I don't think Bourne just forgot the kind of slant he was supposed to run, he adjusted on the fly and the play went awry.
 

Gash Prex

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He's protecting his QB. It made no sense for him to run a 3 step slant there, he would've basically run into the defender and made the window much tighter. Was still wide open and Mac had ample time to adjust the timing and throw him a better ball. It helps explain why the pass was high, but I don't think Bourne just forgot the kind of slant he was supposed to run, he adjusted on the fly and the play went awry.
Seemed like a pretty clear, specific statement by Bourne - not the usual “we have to do a better job….get on the same page etc…”

View: https://mobile.twitter.com/ezlazar/status/1450929920398475269
 

Big McCorkle

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He's protecting his QB. It made no sense for him to run a 3 step slant there, he would've basically run into the defender and made the window much tighter. Was still wide open and Mac had ample time to adjust the timing and throw him a better ball. It helps explain why the pass was high, but I don't think Bourne just forgot the kind of slant he was supposed to run, he adjusted on the fly and the play went awry.
No, he would not have run into the defender. Diggs was playing eight yards off and with outside leverage; hell, his initial move in response to Bourne's first step is to step back a yard. The one-step move actually helps Diggs out by telling him to break in on the slant quickly rather than freezing him or forcing him to backpedal a bit more as a three-step opening would probably have done. And given what Bourne said, he didn't forget, he saw that Diggs was playing off and decided to run the slant short, which frankly wasn't even a bad read on his part based off of where Diggs was lined up, but obviously Jones didn't see enough to think that that was the case. Factoring in the down and distance, and what Diggs's initial reaction was (given that Jones was probably reading him and not Bourne, given that it was a slant) Jones made the right read there, and it doesn't help that Diggs did get a great break on the route such that even if Jones was on Bourne's page the play probably wouldn't have amounted to much.
 
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SMU_Sox

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I agree with you. I think Diggs backpeddles more and Bourne could still cross his face with a three step. It’s a slant against off-coverage. It probably picks up at least 5-7 yards before the tackle. Just taking what the defense gives you.
 

Eddie Jurak

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I agree with you. I think Diggs backpeddles more and Bourne could still cross his face with a three step. It’s a slant against off-coverage. It probably picks up at least 5-7 yards before the tackle. Just taking what the defense gives you.
WHoever is really to blame, I think it says something good about Mac that Bourne chose to step up and publicly own it.
 

speedracer

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No, he would not have run into the defender. Diggs was playing eight yards off and with outside leverage; hell, his initial move in response to Bourne's first step is to step back a yard. The one-step move actually helps Diggs out by telling him to break in on the slant quickly rather than freezing him or forcing him to backpedal a bit more as a three-step opening would probably have done. And given what Bourne said, he didn't forget, he saw that Diggs was playing off and decided to run the slant short, which frankly wasn't even a bad read on his part based off of where Diggs was lined up, but obviously Jones didn't see enough to think that that was the case. Factoring in the down and distance, and what Diggs's initial reaction was (given that Jones was probably reading him and not Bourne, given that it was a slant) Jones made the right read there, and it doesn't help that Diggs did get a great break on the route such that even if Jones was on Bourne's page the play probably wouldn't have amounted to much.
You can see on the out-and-up Bourne again runs the out in front of Diggs without really threatening deep, tempting Diggs to jump the route:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY1u8AtM54I&t=70s
 
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Eddie Jurak

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Mac, weeks 1 through 5: 135-190 (71.1%) 1,243 yards 6.5 yards/attempt 5 TD 5 INT 11 sacks 2 fumbles
Mac, weeks 6 and 7: 39-57 (68.4%) 536 yards 9.4 yards/attempt 4 TD 1 INT 3 sacks 1 fumble

Yes, yes, yes, one of those games was against the Jets. But the other was against the Cowboys.

And here's another way to look at Mac:

Jets game 1: 22-30 (73.3%) 186 yards, 6.2 yards/attempt 0 TD 0 INT 3 sacks 1 fumble
Jets game 2: 24-36 (66.7%) 307 yards 8.5 yards/attempt 2 TD 0 INT 1 sack 0 fumbles

Some of the credit there may go to the team rather than Mac, but both he and they seems to be figuring things out.
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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Mac, weeks 1 through 5: 135-190 (71.1%) 1,243 yards 6.5 yards/attempt 5 TD 5 INT 11 sacks 2 fumbles
Mac, weeks 6 and 7: 39-57 (68.4%) 536 yards 9.4 yards/attempt 4 TD 1 INT 3 sacks 1 fumble

Yes, yes, yes, one of those games was against the Jets. But the other was against the Cowboys.

And here's another way to look at Mac:

Jets game 1: 22-30 (73.3%) 186 yards, 6.2 yards/attempt 0 TD 0 INT 3 sacks 1 fumble
Jets game 2: 24-36 (66.7%) 307 yards 8.5 yards/attempt 2 TD 0 INT 1 sack 0 fumbles

Some of the credit there may go to the team rather than Mac, but both he and they seems to be figuring things out.
How was his air yards? There was a lot of screens in this game. I know it's game planned, but as his long game has been considered his achilles heel, it bears watching.
 

tims4wins

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Jets drafted QB at 2, Miami at 5. Pats have more wins than both combined. Feel pretty good about that.

Edit oh and Fields has 2 TD : 6 INT
 

heavyde050

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How was his air yards? There was a lot of screens in this game. I know it's game planned, but as his long game has been considered his achilles heel, it bears watching.
He may not have the strongest arm, but he seems to really throw a pretty deep ball. He threw an absolute dime to Bourne. I am really excited to see him after he builds some additional arm strength.
 

rodderick

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He may not have the strongest arm, but he seems to really throw a pretty deep ball. He threw an absolute dime to Bourne. I am really excited to see him after he builds some additional arm strength.
He has incredible touch on fades. If he has a receiver one on one down the sidelines, I fully trust him to deliver a good ball. Now pretty much every other kind of deeper throw has been spotty.
 

tims4wins

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Mac joins Burrow and Herbert as only QBs with 170 completions thru first 7 starts. Dak, Burrow, Watson, and Mac are the only QBs with 225 pass yds and a td pass in 5 straight games as a rookie.
 

BaseballJones

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Mac was terrific today. Throws a beautiful ball. He directed traffic and constantly made the right decision. Even ran a little and moved in the pocket well.

Just the Jets I know but still. It’s how he’s throwing and the quality of decisions he’s making that have me excited.
 

TripleOT

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As the line play improves, Mac can air it out more often. With the running game as a threat, run action passing by a smart QB like Jones is going to be effective. Hopefully, big Trent Brown will be available soon.
 

Eddie Jurak

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Mac was terrific today. Throws a beautiful ball. He directed traffic and constantly made the right decision. Even ran a little and moved in the pocket well.
On the 3rd and 10 where he ran for 13, it looked like he made the decision to run pretty quickly - he set up in the pocket, saw that he could run for the 10, and did it. Haven't seen that from him before.
 

BaseballJones

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He did miss a play - I forget when - when he threw deep down the right while on the move. It resulted in an incompletion and there was a holding call on the offense anyway. But he also had a guy wide open shorter that could have resulted in a big gain. That too, of course, would have been nullified by the very same holding penalty but I still thought it was a bad decision.

But on the whole he looked fantastic today.
 

SeoulSoxFan

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As the line play improves, Mac can air it out more often. With the running game as a threat, run action passing by a smart QB like Jones is going to be effective. Hopefully, big Trent Brown will be available soon.
Speaking of, "Big Tent" is an apt nickname for Trent Brown.
 

SeoulSoxFan

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He did miss a play - I forget when - when he threw deep down the right while on the move. It resulted in an incompletion and there was a holding call on the offense anyway. But he also had a guy wide open shorter that could have resulted in a big gain. That too, of course, would have been nullified by the very same holding penalty but I still thought it was a bad decision.

But on the whole he looked fantastic today.
That was to Hunter Henry, if we're referring to the same play.

Henry was holding his wrist/arm afterward and didn't seem like he was breaking out to the sideline at full speed, however.
 

Ralphwiggum

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I thought Mac was very quick to the check-down yesterday, the line was actually doing an OK job and it felt like Mac could have taken a little more time to go through his progressions. But it seems like if his first read isn't open he immediately checks down. That said (a) it was working, so why change it up, (b) the line has been so bad it is easy to understand why his internal clock may be sped up a little, hopefully if the line play continues to improve he'll get better at this.
 

rodderick

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SeoulSoxFan

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Ok this made it move a little bit.
Ummm, me too?

Seriously, the most impressive thing was the touch/air that he put on the ball. Didn't a Patriot mentioned that catching Mac's throws is like catching pillows? The throw had the perfect arc on it so Bourne can run under it and catch it in stride. Superb.
 

tims4wins

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He did miss a play - I forget when - when he threw deep down the right while on the move. It resulted in an incompletion and there was a holding call on the offense anyway. But he also had a guy wide open shorter that could have resulted in a big gain. That too, of course, would have been nullified by the very same holding penalty but I still thought it was a bad decision.

But on the whole he looked fantastic today.
That was to Hunter Henry, if we're referring to the same play.

Henry was holding his wrist/arm afterward and didn't seem like he was breaking out to the sideline at full speed, however.
If it’s the same play I am thinking of, it felt like Henry got interfered with.
 

lexrageorge

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If it’s the same play I am thinking of, it felt like Henry got interfered with.
If it's the play I am thinking of, I do agree. There was definitely contact when the ball was in the air; there should have been offsetting penalties. Didn't end up mattering.
 

BaseballJones

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Yes that was the play. But my issue was with Jones' decision there. He had another guy wide open shorter that could have picked up a big gain - it wouldn't have mattered due to the holding penalty, but it was about the choice Jones made there.

One of very few mistakes on the day, obviously.
 

BaseballJones

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Where Mac ranks in the NFL at present...

Completions: #5 (174)
Attempts: #6 (247)
Comp%: #4 (70.4%)
Yards: #9 (1,774)
Yds/Att: #19 (7.2)
Touchdowns: #20 (9)
Rating: #20 (92.8)

So he's not a top tier QB at this point. But he's far ahead of all the other rookies, and on the whole, he seems to be a middle-of-the-pack NFL starting QB. Which is pretty amazing for a first-year player.
 

luckiestman

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Where Mac ranks in the NFL at present...

Completions: #5 (174)
Attempts: #6 (247)
Comp%: #4 (70.4%)
Yards: #9 (1,774)
Yds/Att: #19 (7.2)
Touchdowns: #20 (9)
Rating: #20 (92.8)

So he's not a top tier QB at this point. But he's far ahead of all the other rookies, and on the whole, he seems to be a middle-of-the-pack NFL starting QB. Which is pretty amazing for a first-year player.
I wish we could run an experiment where we could see how all the rookies would do under BB. Clearly Mac can take the coaching whereas some of the other guys that have been through there could not. I look at this stat and I see coaching. 4 completion % to 19y/att looks like gamplanning to protect the qb. I think Lawrence could do this. My guy is a little spotty on short throws and throws a bit hard, so wonder how they would handle him. Lance and Fields look raw. Davis Mills could probably work.
 

tims4wins

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I wish we could run an experiment where we could see how all the rookies would do under BB. Clearly Mac can take the coaching whereas some of the other guys that have been through there could not. I look at this stat and I see coaching. 4 completion % to 19y/att looks like gamplanning to protect the qb. I think Lawrence could do this. My guy is a little spotty on short throws and throws a bit hard, so wonder how they would handle him. Lance and Fields look raw. Davis Mills could probably work.
Very much agree. I said it right after the draft but if I had to bet on which QB would have the best career, I’d bet on the Pats and Niners and against the Jets, Bears, and Jags, name on the back of the jersey be damned.
 

Super Nomario

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Very much agree. I said it right after the draft but if I had to bet on which QB would have the best career, I’d bet on the Pats and Niners and against the Jets, Bears, and Jags, name on the back of the jersey be damned.
What have the 49ers done to deserve a reputation as a competent, non-dysfunctional organization?