Tom Brady won his Super Bowl with the Buccaneers. Now it’s Bill Belichick’s turn.
There isn’t enough noise right now about what’s happening this summer in New England:
The Patriots look good. They look very good. Back-to-the-playoffs good.
Provided they get steady quarterback play.
New England quarterback Mac Jones, center, huddles with teammates during a preseason game Washington earlier this month. AP Photo/Steven Senne
That’s what made rookie Mac Jones’ masterful Wednesday practice against the Giants most intriguing, on Cam Newton’s final day in quarantine due to COVID-19 protocols.
For one day, the No. 15 overall pick of April’s draft had complete command.
“Mac Jones? I thought he was a good quarterback and had a strong arm,” top Giants corner James Bradberry said Friday. “The deep ball he threw the first day, (a 50-yard TD pass to Jakobi Meyers in double coverage), that was a pretty good ball. Even the deep ball he threw when I got double-moved (by Gunner Olszewski before a pass breakup), it was a really (well)-placed ball. He’s got some really good accuracy, good touch. Good quarterback.”
Maybe Belichick will start the veteran Newton in Week 1 anyway, despite a “level of frustration internally” with the quarterback’s COVID protocol violations, per NFL Network.
But seeing Jones shine was eye-opening, considering the strength of the rest of the roster.
The offensive line of Isaiah Wynn, Michael Onwenu, David Andrews, Shaq Mason and Trent Brown is going to be one of the best in football. Dont’a Hightower, Matt Judon and Josh Uche comprise a formidable edge group.
The secondary is a perennial strength, even with Stephon Gilmore’s contract situation unresolved, bolstered by this week’s trade for Ravens rookie Shaun Wade.
Belichick answered Brady’s championship and New England’s first losing season since 2000 with an unprecedented offseason spending spree. And so the skill positions will be solid, led by running back Damien Harris and free agent wideout Nelson Agholor and tight end Jonnu Smith.
The six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach was characteristically understated about his team’s mid-week dominance.
“There are a number of things we need to do better,” Belichick said Thursday.
He downplayed Jones’ strong practice as part of his team’s “good learning experiences,” but the rookie’s teammates were more effusive with their praise.
“(Jones) makes a (play) call and I’m like, ‘Man, there’s no way I would have made that call as a rookie quarterback,’” third-string QB Brian Hoyer said. “Just to have the confidence and knowledge to go out there and execute it.”
Hightower said he was impressed that Jones had taken the initiative to study and learn the Patriots’ defense, just to understand their concepts of operation.
“I’ll give him credit for that because not a lot of young guys would see that as an opportunity and he did that on his own,” Hightower said. “The kid works hard. I’ll leave it at that.”
Belichick also admitted that Jones had a big opportunity to state his case with Newton sidelined, and the kid delivered.
He completed 22-of-26 passes in Wednesday’s full-team period, per The Providence Journal, including a stretch of 18 consecutive completions across the entire practice, per The Athletic. And his less-than-perfect Thursday was still good — just compromised by several receiver drops and a Logan Ryan interception.
“It’s just something that I obviously want to do,” Jones said. “Everyone wants to take first-team reps … It was great and we communicated, and I felt like we were in a really good flow. I kind of got into like a game flow.”
Why the Patriots are somehow being overlooked nationally at the moment is a mystery.
Of course, the Kansas City Chiefs are the class of the AFC, and the Buffalo Bills are considered one step away from stealing that crown.
But no one should ignore the chip on Belichick’s shoulder, the big spending New England did this offseason, and the championship pedigree still sprinkled around this formidable roster.
Maybe ‘Mac Mania’ will be what wakes up the rest of the league to this harsh reality:
In 2021, the Patriots will be back.
COVID CHRONICLES: NFL
Almost 93% of NFL players were vaccinated as of Thursday afternoon, chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills said on a conference call. That percentage will shift a bit when rosters are reduced across the league from 80 to 53 on Tuesday, but the league is encouraged by the vaccination rate and hopeful to reach 100%.
Sills said there were 68 confirmed positive player COVID-19 tests out of 7,190 total tests between Aug. 1-21, a 0.95% incidence rate. He said unvaccinated players (2.2%) have tested positive at seven times the rate of those vaccinated (0.3%). In this week’s cluster of positives with the Tennessee Titans, 38% of the unvaccinated players on the team tested positive.
The NFL and players’ union are still negotiating on the testing cadence for the regular season. Last season, everyone tested daily. Right now, unvaccinated players test daily and vaccinated players test once every 14 days.
The union wants daily testing for all players again. The league has proposed that vaccinated players get tested once every seven days, and if those players want a second test in that span because they have a vulnerable family member, they can get one.
The NFL is also implementing daily testing for individuals at heightened risk or following exposures, though, which prompts the union and cynics to wonder why it wouldn’t also be safer to daily test everyone again.
One example is the Arizona Cardinals. According to sources, four vaccinated individuals with the Cardinals (players and staff) tested positive a week ago. So the NFL and players’ union asked the team to test all players, coaches, and Tier 1 and 2 staff daily through Wednesday the 25th.
The team ended up testing everyone daily for four days: Thursday, Aug. 19 through Sunday, Aug. 22. One of the four positives tested negative during that time and came back to the team.
Sills’ rationale for not testing daily league-wide included that “testing does not prevent outbreaks,” as evidenced by last season and that testing can “create a false sense of security.”
The league would prefer to see a vaccine mandate for players, but the union won’t budge. Union president J.C. Tretter, the Browns’ center, said on ESPN Radio that the league had never asked for a mandate.
But Giants co-owner John Mara said himself that he wanted it to be mandatory, “but the players association did not share that view.” And on Thursday, NFL deputy general counsel Larry Ferazani responded: “We would still love to see that mandate go into effect tomorrow.”
The NFL, meanwhile, does not expect a reduction in fan capacity at its stadiums. And yet the league and union have closed locker rooms to the media for the regular season, a proposal made by the players’ union in early August. Only 50 team-affiliated individuals will be allowed in each team’s locker room with players on game days.
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