Is Mac Jones The Spark Plug The Patriots Passing Game Has Been Missing?

Between 2018 and 2019, I criticized McDaniels for playcalling. I even started calling him McVanilla. Fans quickly came to his aid, saying "who does he have to work with."

Someplace midway in 2019 I noticed Brady seemed to have lost accuracy and started throwing to bubbles, throwing at the pass catchers and not to where he should've been. I wasn't sure if Brady was phoning it in or of he was starting to lose it. Fans came to his defense saying, "This is Tom Brady you're talking about!", "cut him some slack he's earned it!", but the next one was my favorite, "we don't criticize Tom Brady ever!"

2020 was the most boring the offense had looked, and it wasn't the play calling. I'd watch the game and had huge issues with the quarterback / quarterbacks on passing plays. I'd notice poor ball placement or guys being open, among other things. 

Paraphrasing a little here but fans said, "The poor ball placement was due was apparently due to not having any weapons. And everything else was due to the issues brought on by the pandemic."

The Patriots drafted Mac Jones in 2021. Some people in the media are saying Cam Newton is still looking like he did in 2020. They're also saying at the moment Mac Jones looks like he knows how to operate the offense already and that the competition between Mac & Cam is closer than what people thought it was.

In 2020 Josh McDaniels added some option runs to the offense but ran the "Brady" passing game. Several people in the media are saying, there won't be a different offense for Cam. That the Patriots are going to continue to run the "Brady" passing offense.

Because there was only one day of open practice, it's too early to know what's going on. However, I will say this. If the Patriots are going to run the passing offense they ran the past few years, Newton's mechanics, accuracy, and anticipation must greatly improve. If Jones and the offense moves the ball better than Cam, Jones will start week one.