Most Patriots fans would like to forget what Cam Newton made them watch in 2020.
This season, Mac Jones is making them relive it.
Well, kinda. Jones and Newton’s respective campaigns obviously have major differences. Newton, even in his diminished state, still ran the ball 137 times for 592 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also had Josh McDaniels running the show and had a completely different assortment of passing-game weapons, aside from Jakobi Meyers. Jones, on the other hand, is being coached up by Matt Patricia and Joe Judge, isn’t nearly as athletic and endured a three-game injury absence.
Still, as pointed out by The Ringer’s Brian Barrett, many of Jones’ stats this season are alarmingly similar to the ones Newton finished with two years ago. And nearly all of the sophomore quarterback’s numbers took a major hit Sunday afternoon when he was concerningly bad against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Check out this tweet from Barrett:
Not good.
So, what are the chances of the Patriots making a quarterback change and giving rookie Bailey Zappe another shot? Bill Belichick sidestepped that question Wednesday afternoon in a way that certainly will generate plenty of speculation.
However, at this point, Jones appears in line to start Saturday’s must-win home game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
