FOXBOROUGH – New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones lives by one mantra when it comes to passing: “You'll never go broke taking a profit.”
Jones first revealed that was his philosophy when he throws a football as a rookie last season, where he was viewed as a dink and dunk passer. Now in his second season, the Patriots' new offensive system has seen Jones throw the ball a lot more down the field and taking more chances on 50/50 balls.
Patriots offensive line coach/senior advisor and presumed offensive play-caller Matt Patricia said last week that there are three levels of throws and when he wants Jones to make them. Jones shared when to make each level of throw on Wednesday.
“I think, as always, short, medium and long, however it comes, it just goes down to taking what the defense gives whether that's the short, or the medium or the long,” Jones said. “If your long guy's open then you want to give him the ball. If he's not, then work through your progressions, things like that. But it always goes back to taking what the defense gives.”
As it appears Jones has been advised to take more chances down the field this season, it hasn't led to desirable results. Jones has completed 65.9 percent of his passes for 993 yards, three touchdowns, and seven interceptions in five games. He's thrown an interception in each game he's played so far this season.
Week 8 saw some changes though in Jones' first full game since he injured his ankle in Week 3. The Patriots ran a more up-tempo offense that allowed Jones to throw some quicker passes. They also called 13 run-pass option (RPOs) plays, which Jones had some success on.
Jones on the kind of the levels of throws he makes: “It’s all about what the defense gives you.”
On RPOs, Jones said the usage of them “depends on the week.” They ran about a dozen against the Jets last week. #Patriots
— Conor Roche (@ConorRoche27) November 2, 2022
Jones has experience running RPOs since his college days at Alabama. After calling RPOs “pretty cool plays” earlier in the season, Jones continued to show an affinity toward them on Wednesday, but realized they can't be your entire offensive identity.
“I think that just depends on the week and how we want to attack,” Mac Jones said of calling more RPOs. “You look at the NFL and every offense is running, for the most part, some version of them. Some people are RPO-heavy. Some people just have a dose of them. Can't be your whole offense. But definitely just adds a different layer to your offense. So want to be able to do whatever we want at anytime in the game. Run the ball, throw it, play-action, RPO, etc.
“Definitely need to improve in other areas too to kind of allow those plays to happen. But those are good plays overall.”
As Jones remarks on how much he likes RPOs, everything he does as a passer boils down to his main mantra, which he learned from his high school offensive line coach of all people.
🚨 TOUCHDOWN PATRIOTS 🚨
Jakobi Meyers gives us the lead to start the 2nd half!pic.twitter.com/F0kXogXtdX
— Patriots Nation (@PatsNationCP) October 30, 2022
“He told me that. He used to call me Sunshine,” Jones said. “So he would say like, ‘Sunshine, you'll never go broke taking a profit.' So we ran the Wing-T. So if the back was open, give it to him, and let him get the five, ten yards and good things will happen. All good.”
Mac Jones will continue to see if his mantra will have any success when the Patriots host the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
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