Mac Jones Can Get Rattled, It's The Key To Beating Him.

The Patriots are in the thick of a playoff hunt and have to play the Falcons on Thursday night. Kendrick Bourne was asked if Mac Jones ever gets rattled. He said no in an interesting way. Now we've seen Mac in games, at camp, and at practice or the media has since he first reported. So Bourne was either protecting his quarterback or has a short memory. 

Kendrick Bourne November 14, 2021 per Chris Mason, "Mac Jones is wired differently. Mac always looks poised. I don’t know what it is. He’s driven differently, he’s so poised. That mindset can take you far in this league. He’s good at being in the moment.”

Mac Jones has been known for being too serious. It's one of the many reasons he gets compared to "the GOAT" Tom Brady, especially 2001 Tom Brady. The Patriots coaches and front office see it, just like everyone else. 

Mike Giardi November 17, 2021 said,  "The Patriots would like to see Mac Jones relax a little more, have some more fun on the field. Their certainty benefiting from his mind set right now."

On November 10, 2021, Nelson Agholor was quoted as saying,  “I love the kid. The most special thing about him is his passion and discipline toward football. He takes little things very hard and my job is to remind him how gifted, and how hard he already works, that he can’t allow the little things nag on him.”

Back on June 17th Josh McDaniels and David Andrews had to calm Mac Jones down after practice and discuss what was going on. After Jones had an emotional day.

June 17th Evan Lazar wrote, "For the first time this spring, we saw noticeable frustration from the first-round pick on Wednesday. Jones completed just three of his final ten passes with an interception to Dee Virgin, but it was his mental struggles throughout that stood out."

On July 29, 2021 Khari Thompson wrote, "Jones, not unlike Newton at one point during minicamp, took his helmet off and stormed off the field as the field goal unit ended the practice. Both Brian Hoyer and Newton came over and talked to him, with the visual of the veteran comforting the rookie trying to take his job resonating to close out the day."

It was also reported that Mac Jones showed emotional frustration on August 3rd. The third time during the offseason.

On November 1, 2021 Mac Jones said "You gotta watch the film and look at the X’s and O’s of it. But the overall message is keep playing. It isn’t always going to be perfect. For me, sometimes that’s really hard, because I want it to be better than that. I feel it falls on my hands a lot, because that’s what quarterback is.”

Back on September 13, 2021 Mac went on Weei and was asked if he's too hard on himself. 

Mac responded, "A lot of people say that, but just trying to be perfect and being a perfectionist is something that we all want to do here, try to be as perfect as we can..." "My goal is just to be able to do my job even better every week..." "But you also sometimes feel you left plays on the field, which I did, so that’s just the hardest part for me."

The biggest weapon Mac has is his intelligence. His biggest flaw is his emotional state, he's too serious. He's a perfectionist. If teams can get to Mac, they can get in his head and cloud his intelligence with emotion. They don't have to hit Mac. Just cause him to be off target. Get him to throw early or to throw a pick. Mac doesn't handle mistakes well.

That was the worry during the offseason. Could he stay cool when things weren't going his way or would he get stuck mentally. Mac Jones hasn't had that Ryan Leaf moment but that is the biggest fear anyone could have for the young quarterback because he's got all the tools to be the Patriots franchise quarterback for a long time but Leaf had the tools also.

If the Patriots can't teach him to let go and to stop trying to be perfect, no matter how much they protect him, his career will be short. Being one's best and being perfect are two different things and it's like Mac doesn't get that. It's gonna cost the Patriots. It's one thing to protect him from Tom Brady, It's another thing to protect one from themselves.

I'd hate to see how Mac takes it if his play cost the Patriots a playoff win. We made fun of Cam crying at the superbowl, we might see Mac cry a lot sooner. Mac is still a kid, yeah he plays a game with men but he's still a kid. And that I think is why his shots are downfield are limited. They're worried he can't handle not making too many plays downfield. I don't, it's just my opinion.