New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones earned his first NFL win Sunday in a Week 2 verdict over the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium.
Nick Wright, to no surprise however, was not impressed. The FS1 talking head actually tore into the Patriots for limiting Jones in the passing game.
Jones ranked 34th out of the 35 quarterbacks to throw a pass in air yards per attempt. SportRadar had Jones for -1.1 yards per attempt as only Miami Dolphins signal-caller Tua Tagovailoa, who left with a first-quarter injury, ranked lower.
“Not only are they making him order off the kids menu, they’re cutting up his food for him and setting it in his mouth like a baby bird,” Wright said Monday during an episode of “First Things First.”
“Week 1, he, at least a few times, pushed it down. Week 2? Nope. Check, check, check, check, check, check, check,” Wright continued.
Wright specifically compared Jones’ production to Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Lawrence, the No. 1 overall pick, led the league in air yards during Week 2 (12.6 yards), per SportRadar. But in doing so made a number of mistakes while throwing the ball downfield. Lawrence has five interceptions in two games while Jones has yet to throw an interception.
“If you’re goal is simply to eek out wins, fine. That’s the offense you should have been running if you signed Teddy Bridgewater,” Wright said. “If your goal is to develop a quarterback, this is not the process for it. And it’s like, ‘Oh, the Patriots have such history of developing quarterback.’ No they don’t! No they don’t!
“They got Tom Brady and that’s it. So this idea that this is the way to go about it… I will take the Trevor Lawrence learning as you go as opposed to the Mac Jones being one of the 14-year-old kids that still needs training wheels on his bike because it’s like ‘Can’t let him fall!’ “
Whether Wright likes it or not, it certainly seems like head coach Bill Belichick and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels are content with Jones the game-manager. And they now have a .500 record to show for it.
