Well..... no. The Jets wouldn't be punting to the Patriots there at the end, so wipe that TD away. The score would likely be 9-3 with the Jets having the ball and going for it on fourth down at the end of the game there. At the least, they wouldn't be playing it so conservatively. Which could mean Wilson hits some big passes OR throws a pick. We don't know, but for sure that TD on the punt return wouldn't have happened.
That is very true. But we do know if they went for it on 4th down, there is no doubt the Pats D would have scored on the play due to Zach Wilson incompetence, so 16-3 is still in play.
I'm far from an expert on OL play, but it sure seems like a lot of Stevenson's recent good runs have been mostly from tremendous individual effort. Not a lot of grinding out 5 yard runs because the OL is road grading. I'm a broken record, but I think the OL generally stinks and has been, by far, the most disappointing unit this season.
I think they're mediocre. One thing I have noticed, it seems like Stevenson is amazing at breaking tackles and making guys miss, but I think Harris is clearly better at finding where to go at the point of attack and hitting it. Rham makes things happen but sometimes misses the easy stuff. Harris is less likely to break a bunch of tackles, but he also will hit the hole decisively. Yesterday was some of that to me.. The Jets have a good D, you need to find the hole immediately or they swallow stuff up, Rham didn't, Harris did and that's why he was more effective.
Oooof. That’s a brutal assessment. And now appears to be correct. Manziel aside , probably the most entitled and unlikable QB since Ryan Leaf. He’s definitely matching both of them in the on field production department.
He had scrambled for at least one first down in 4 consecutive games (last 2 games before injury, first 2 games post injury) before the last two games. Had a handful of positive gains on scrambles in those games that weren't first downs as well.
Bedard had an article today specifically examining this question: https://www.bostonsportsjournal.com/2022/11/21/how-many-of-the-patriots-sacks-were-on-mac-jones-vs-jets
In what world is Brain Daboll going to be available/possibly available in 2023, he's a dark horse for coach of the year at this stage of the season.
Not to mention, if the teams QBs were flipped, the Jets probably would have won handily.
Daboll is not leaving the Giants anytime soon, and if Kafka leaves, it will be for a head coaching job.
I was joking, obviously, basically saying the best bet for the Pats is having Mac play for another team.
I figured so, but just in case anyone was getting ideas about Kafka.
Of course, there is really not much of an alternative this season, barring injury. I honestly do believe if Belichick thought Zappe gave them a clear cut better chance of winning games this season, he would start Zappe.
Additionally the Jets have one of the best pressure games in the league -- something like 25 percent of passing plays involve some form of pressure (pats are higher ranked at nearly 30 percent of plays).
I anticipate Mac going 21/35 against Pittsburgh, throwing for 252 yards, hitting Agholor for a long TD. Pats win, maybe like 17-14.
Lol, braincramp on my part, thanks for catching that
One note on this since it comes up all the time in this thread......
I would say it IS unusual, but it is not unheard of. Allen's growth pattern (flat-out bad his first two years but eventually becoming MVP caliber) is very rare.
I feel better than most about the Jets game--the combo of bad weather, injuries on the o-line, and a pretty good jets defense combines to make me think he played like a middle of the road starter in tough circumstances--but the challenge is that f you're just middle of the road or a bit better than middle of the road than the rest of your team has to be absolutely fantastic for the team to compete for the first round bye, home field in playoffs, possible superbowls etc.
Belly laugh achieved.
I watched that play a bunch earlier today -- I think it was Lazar doing a video analysis of each sack. Lazar felt that Jones' progression was Henry, Smith, then Rham, but by the time he saw that both TE's were covered, he was sacked. I think Lazar said 2.7 seconds from snap to sack.
It was to Harris. I just rewatched it on the All-22, and I have no clue what Mac was doing there. The two receivers to the left are blocking, and Strange was rushing to do the same. That throw is there.
I also watch a fair bit of Giant football and he's not a joke. I actually felt back for the guy over the last couple years watching that offense try to un-bleep itself. Both he and the Giants may be punching a bit above their weight at moment but something is clearly different now.
I forget who it was - maybe Pats Pulpit… who said it comes to a stoppable force against a moveable object.
Bedard has talked about something somewhat analogous. Its less in terms of a baseline against the rest of the league but still in terms of overall pressure allowing an offense to function. I don't have the exact number (its come up a couple times in his podcast) but I recall something like a 40% pressure rate being essentially unsustainable.
I don't know if there's a stat that measures it, but it feels as though the Patriots are not just bad in the red zone but also generally bad on the opponent's side of the field. I can think of so many punts from the 42 or whatever, and I can also remember a few times where they were comfortably in field goal range but ended up taking a penalty or a sack that made it a harder field goal, but Folk bailed them out.
When you phrase it as "he took untimely and costly sacks" that strongly implies that you're blaming HIM for the sacks. He was sacked three times. One was a completely blown blocking assignment by Trent Brown that wasn't on Mac at all. Another was him scrambling away from pressure and then sliding before reaching the line of scrimmage, which technically made it a sack. And a third was at the very end of the game when they had 53 seconds to drive 89 yards with no time outs. Of course we didn't want a sack there, but it made almost no difference whatsoever in their odds of winning that game.
The reflexive need to shit on him even when he plays well is something to see. A tackle attempts the wrong kind of block and whiffs on a good edge rusher who gets a sack - all Mac's fault.
Just curious what was your opinion of last night's proformance? Some posters are blaming Mac Jones for the loss. I thought those folks are crazy but what do I know? I do think it's been good that Mac has cut down on the turnovers the past couple of games.
The first one mattered, too, but it wasn't really a sack, per se, it was Mac not stopping the clock (with incomplete pass) when he could. It was a first and 10 play, had he scrambled for 5 yards (instead of zero) and still stayed in bounds it would have been every bit as bad. It compounded a dumber decision by Henry to stay in bounds earlier in the drive.
Good performance.
Problem is in today's NFL there are about 24 guys in the league that can cook if provided that. Are there people who genuinely believe Mac is trash and can't play regardless of circumstance or the doubts are more over his ability to elevate the team and pull his supporting cast up instead of playing at their level?
And where exactly is this "star WR" going to come from? There is absolutely nothing on the WR market. Mac is definitely improving so that is the main takeaway from me and a positive development. But the larger concerns about the offense (OL, lack of WR playmakers, Patricia, etc.) remain for me.
Unless you are Lamar Jackson (and he has Andrews) - I don't see any QBs in the league preforming well without a star WR. Allen has Diggs, Burrow has Chase, Tua has Hill, Mahomes has Kelce, Jalen Hurts has AJ Brown etc...
There's a difference between "performing well" and being Josh Allen/Joe Burrow/Patrick Mahomes, or having the year Tua has had. That's precisely what I'm saying: if you give Mac elite weapons and great protection I'm sure he could produce at the level of a top 10 QB in the regular season, but so could Alex Smith and Ryan Tannehill when they had that. I think that's the guy Mac has the highest probability of being and don't get me wrong, that's still an extremely valuable player, I just think most of the concerns (the valid ones, not talking about Felger and Mazz callers here) are over his ability to elevate above this level, not that he just can't play at all. But maybe I'm wrong.
And let's also note that the Bills made a huge trade for Stefon Diggs, who's been awesome for Buffalo (so the Pats could make that kind of trade). This is his third season with the Bills, and while they've gone 32-12 in that time, they haven't even made it to a Super Bowl, never mind winning one. They may do that this year or next year or whatever, but they haven't done it yet. It's really, really hard.
I do think some posters seem to think he's just bad and should have been replaced by Zappe now. I'm sure I could scroll through this thread and find some, but anyone else can do the same.
Yup but can only make those trades if one is available. But there have been quite a few available recently via trade, guys like Adams, Diggs, Hopkins, Hill, Brown, Cooper, etc. However, we never seem to be interested in these deals outside of Brandin Cooks so I think the WR group in 2023 will be comparable to the one in 2022. And depending on what happens with Meyers in FA, it could actually be worse. Doesn't matter who is at QB for the Pats - Mac or Zappe - if the OL is this bad and the WRs are just a bunch of decent-to-solid guys, it won't be easy keeping up with the elite offenses.
