The New England Patriots have found out the hard way just how difficult it is to replace a legend at the quarterback position. For nearly two decades they had Tom Brady under center leading their offense, but when he opted to leave in free agency in 2020, joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Patriots have been left in shambles.
They have been unable to find a suitable quarterback to take over the starting job for him. After a tough 2020 season, the team selected Mac Jones in the first round hoping he would be their long-term answer.
After a decent enough rookie season, Jones has seen his numbers drop the subsequent two seasons. It has left the Patriots in a tough spot, as he and head coach Bill Belichick are reportedly playing for their jobs this season.
If things continue in the fashion they have to this point, both of them are going to be out of jobs after the season. The Patriots are currently 1-3 and there haven’t been many signs pointing to a turnaround, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
There are a lot of things that have gone into Jones regressing on the field, but one former quarterback believes one thing sticks out amongst it all. Robert Griffin III, during a recent appearance on ESPN’s Get Up, placed the blame on Belichick for Jones’ lack of development.
“For me, this comes down to coaching,” Griffin said about Jones during a segment on the ESPN “Get Up” program, per Christian Arnold of the New York Post. “In year two, Bill Belichick messed up his young quarterback. When you give him a defensive coordinator and a special teams coordinator as his offensive coordinator, and now he’s on his third offensive coordinator in three years in the NFL, that to me is the epitome of a coaching malpractice.”
The lack of continuity in the coaching staff has certainly contributed to Jones’s struggles. Having to learn a new scheme every offseason is not an easy task and is certainly a plausible reason for his struggles.
There was hope that Bill O’Brien would be able to help turn things around for Jones in Year 3, but that has not yet been the case. Jones is completing a career-low 63.7 percent of his passes and his interception percentage sits at a career-high 2.7 percent.
There is a lot wrong with this offense, as the Patriots haven’t surrounded Jones with the greatest stable of weapons. But, he also hasn’t played up to the level in which the team needs to succeed. It is looking more and more likely that a full teardown is going to occur in New England this offseason.
