Poise in the pocket was a hallmark of Mac Jones’ game last season. Even when pass rushers were converging around him, the Patriots quarterback had the ability to keep his composure and deliver an accurate ball downfield.
That trait was conspicuously absent Friday night.
Playing behind an offensive line that has lacked cohesion throughout training camp, Jones looked spooked and uncertain in New England’s preseason closer against the Las Vegas Raiders, too often bailing from clean pockets and running into negative plays.
The second-year QB acknowledged this problem in his postgame news conference.
“I think with this year, tonight specifically, I’ve got to do a better job of stepping up and delivering the throws,” Jones told reporters after the Patriots’ 23-6 loss at Allegiant Stadium. “… I’ve got to do a better job of just getting the ball out and stepping up in the pocket instead of running around and putting my line in a bad position.”
One example of this came on the Patriots’ opening possession. Facing a third-and-6 after Rhamondre Stevenson was dropped for a loss on second down, Jones went into scramble mode too quickly after seeing pressure off the edge from Malcolm Koonce.
Because of this, when right guard Mike Onwenu chipped Koonce to provide support for tackle Isaiah Wynn, he knocked the Raiders edge rusher right into Jones for a 13-yard sack.
Jones’ skittishness also showed up on his final snap of the preseason.
After a third-down touchdown pass to DeVante Parker was nullified by offensive pass interference, Jones sprinted backward from a still-intact pocket and heaved the ball out of bounds, forcing the Patriots to settle for a Nick Folk field goal.
“That’s something I always pride myself (on) is, ‘Hey, I’m going to be right here behind the center. You guys block for me and do your thing,’ ” Jones said. “We’ve got good players up there. We’ll watch the tape, and I’ve got to explain what I see and all that.”
Jones took two sacks and threw an interception into heavy traffic in his four series of action, his decent stat line (9-of-13, 71 yards) belying another rough showing from the Patriots’ starting offense. He also took a hard hit on a deep incompletion, with the Raiders’ Amik Robertson coming in untouched on a cornerback blitz.
Communication up front has been a major problem for New England as it transitions to a new offensive scheme, and the prevalence of free rushers like Robertson could be rattling Jones’ confidence. Both of these issues must be remedied in the two weeks before the Patriots’ Sept. 11 season opener at Miami.
Jones did have some positive moments Friday — his first-down scramble on third-and-10; his 16-yard, on-the-move strike to Hunter Henry — but his offense produced points on just two of its seven total preseason possessions. The other five featured four three-and-outs and one turnover.
“It’s not all how it looks sometimes,” Jones said postgame. “Right now, we’re trying to just run plays and see what we can do. It’s not like we’re out there trying to scheme everything up, so sometimes that plays a factor. You’ve just got to go out there and execute the plays that are called. We know what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to just run our base stuff and see what we can do with it, so sometimes it doesn’t look as good as you want.
“But in the end, we need to be able to execute base plays, scheme plays, all that stuff. It definitely needs to look better.”
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