Nick Wright has crafted his Mac Jones take and, context or evidence be damned, is sticking to it.
The FS1 talking head basically is of the belief that Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots don’t trust Jones, and that the team has won five straight games in spite of the rookie quarterback. Wright’s logic is rooted in New England’s tendency to forgo aggressive playcalling in third- and fourth-down scenarios in favor of more conservative approaches.
He beat this narrative into the ground throughout Thursday, beginning with this “First Things First” segment:
Wright kept it up as the Patriots marched to a 25-0 victory over Atlanta.
Check out all these anti-Mac Jones tweets:
But wait, there’s more!
Wright picked up where he left off for Friday’s “First Things First” episode.
There’s so much wrong with Wright’s take that it’s hard to know where to begin.
But let’s start with the “Patriots don’t trust Jones” angle. The notion that any NFL team, especially one as risk-averse as the Patriots, would enable a rookie quarterback to do whatever they want without restrictions is just absurd. With very few exceptions, freshman signal-callers must be managed and brought along slowly.
Furthermore, New England’s conservative approach, which was more prevalent early in the season, was more about the general limitations of the offense. The Patriots barely could run plays without the offensive line giving up a free rusher, or a receiver running an incorrect route, or a running back putting the ball on the ground. Add in the fact that all rookie quarterbacks make mistakes, and it’s no wonder the Patriots occasionally have played things safe.
As for the belief that Jones either isn’t any good or isn’t capable of effectively throwing the ball down the field, his stats against the Cleveland Browns should take care of that, as should this tweet:
Lastly, why is it that people so often ignore the context of Thursday night football?
Thursday night games are breeding grounds for sloppy, mistake-heavy play. The Patriots knew Atlanta had slim chances of scoring more than twice, so they ensured they didn’t do anything to give the Falcons life. If that means punting at midfield to give one of the worst offenses in football horrible field position, so be it.
New England simply needed to take care of business in Atlanta and leave Mercedes-Benz Stadium with a win. It didn’t need to be pretty, and there was no effort made toward making it such.
But hey, asking someone like Nick Wright to consider nuance is like asking people to give it a rest with the 28-3 jokes.
