Hawaii Takes Advantage Of Early Signing Day

Thanks to Todd Graham the Hawaii roster got severely depleted as problems within the program chased players away. Luckily for the Rainbow Warriors at the University of Hawaii, today was early signing day. The team added some much needed depth to bolster it's roster but there are still some holding out on signing until they have to.

Coach Graham was asked about the impact of recent events that came out effecting the signings and he brushed it off.

Graham compared signings to building an NFL team, saying teams need so many calibur players from each round. And that you add what's needed. He also talked about finding replacements for Cordario and Calvin Turner Jr.

Cam'rom Bell defensive back, Tylan Hines running back, Noah Kema linebacker, Chigozie Anusiem cornerback, Virdel Edwards defensive back, Malachi Finau defensive tackle, Kona Moore defensive back, Ethan Spencer offensive lineman, Junior Ta'ase offensive tackle, all signed.

Chigozie Anusiem said, "When my time at Hawai’i finishes I want to look back and be able to say we turned Hawai’i into a powerhouse."

Malachi Finau said "They’re all about discipline and structure and that’s what I feel like need."

Those are the type of players Hawaii is going to need to repair the reputation of the universitu's football program.

Graham who wants to win championships said today about the newest Warriors, "We feel that they are great fits for our culture, our team."

Hawaii has a bowl game against Memphis coming up. And it needs a statement win. Hopefully the new recruits can come hang out with the rest of the current roster, watch the game, and bring some new positive energy to the locker room. Hawaii is not done signing players, so hopefully they can get some top tier talent to join the roster. 

E hele kākou 'o Rainbow Warriors Lahui

Don't Forget Robert Kraft's Role In The Patriots Rebuild.

Henry McKenna of Patriots wire wrote an article called "8 moves that led to Bill Belichick's outrageously fast rebuild of the Patriots." And while the items listed may be true, he forgot one very important thing. Something that surely played a huge role in this quick rebuild. Something probably not seen since 1996. He forgot about Robert Kraft's involvement.

McKenna wrote, "Bill Belichick deserves votes for both the Coach of the Year award and the Executive of the Year award. Coach Bill and GM Bill — yes, two alter-egos of the same man — have worked together to perfection. Belichick took the 2019 version of his team — with cap issues, a string of bad drafts and the impending departure of Tom Brady — and converted the Patriots into this 2021 version: a Super Bowl contender."

What McKenne didn't write was when Robert Kraft called out the team and said what happened in 2020 wasn't good enough. That the quarterbacks play wasn't good enough. Kraft even talked about his spending and it didn't sound like he was happy because he viewed it as a sign of failure.

Kraft said. "I do remember we always made fun of the teams that spent a lot in the offseason."

Kraft spent the most amount of money he has spent on free agents in a long time, if not the most he's signed off on since buying the team. Buying teams doesn't always work. Just look at the Washington Football Team during the Bruce Smith era or Philadelphia when they had Vince Young. Complete disasters.

Kraft also said about the spending, "In the end, if you want to have a good, consistent winning football team, you can't do it in free agency. You have to do it through the draft because that's when you're able to get people of great talent, whether it's Willie McGinest or Tom Brady. You get them at a price where you can build the team and be competitive. Once they get to their [second] contract, if they're superstars, you can only balance so many of them."

Kraft continued, "Really, the teams who draft well are the ones who will be consistently good. I don't feel like we've done the greatest job the last few years and I really hope and believe I've seen a different approach this year. In the end, it all comes down to what happens on the field and how people execute and you really don't know how good a draft is for at least two years. Especially in the environment we're in now, I'm not quite sure still what our offseason training and learning abilities will be."

Kraft called out the coaching staff for their development of talent. Something else that has slipped bye the fanbase and media. Kraft acknowledges that the Patriots have not done a good job with development in that statement. That suggests he was kinda happy with some of the talent being drafted and upset that the team failed them. That means guys like Stidham, Izzo, Cy Jones, Keene, and Asiasi, Kraft is putting on the staff on not the players.

That was surely a message to Belichick and the entire organization. One that was sure to come off as "Do your jobs, don't expect me to do them." And the Patriots are playing like someone lit a fire under their arses, after a slow start. Because Kraft put everyone on notice. The Patriots are the most business like off all the teams and Kraft will force Belichick to get rid of someone if he really has to.

And to the haters in and out of the Patriots fanbase that would see the Patriots return to obscurity, Kraft had one final message.

Kraft said, "Envy and jealousy are incurable diseases. The haters still hate. And I understand it, and we’ll do our best to keep them in that position.”

So while Henry McKenna was right about the cocktail used to form the Patriots success in 2021 and that Belichick was the chef stirring the pot. He left out how Robert Kraft was the angry critic that forced Belichick to put the ingredients together for success in the first place. Robert Kraft stepped into the fire and started turning the franchise around in 1993. And when the franchise appeared to be not to be serving up quality at the beginning of 2021, he returned to the kitchen.

Patriots Nation, this season we owe some credit to Robert Kraft. For without him, there was no Brady or Belichick. He's responsible for the twenty year dynasty. Without him, there may not be a Mac Jones or Christian Barmore because he got involved. He's the reason why people aren't laughing at the Patriots like they are the Lions or the Jaguars. So give credit where it's due. Give credit to the owner for once.

Do The Patriots Trust Mac Jones?

The Monday night game against the Bills has people doubting Mac Jones. Bill Belichick played to the elements and didn't have to put Jones in a position to throw. Instead the Patriots opted for old school football. The Bills on the other hand threw it thirty times and Josh Allen could only complete fifty percent of his passes. The Patriots did their thing and as usual, Mac Jones did what he was asked. 

Yet, former Patriots offensive lineman Damien Woody had the never to question Mac Jones's abilities after the game. 

Woody said, “I don’t know if it’s going to be the regular season, or the postseason, but there’s going to come a time, they’re going to need their rookie quarterback to go toe to toe with the opposing quarterback. At some point, they’re going to need Mac Jones to deliver. He’s going to have to play some ball when matched up against another really good quarterback.”

Woody is potentially right. At some point there may be a team that realizes the strength of the Patriots offense is their running game. There may be a team that puts seven or eight in the box and forces Mac Jones to throw. However, they better have the secondary to cover because Mac is going to make them change their game plan.

Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald basically agreed that Mac Jones is being a game manager but she still posed a couple of questions.

Guregian wrote, "But after essentially being eliminated from the Bills game, what does that say about the confidence level of the coaching staff in their young star at this point? Would Belichick and McDaniels trust him to pull out a game, if need be?"

Karen thinks they would but seemed hesitant.

Brian Hines of Pats Palpit also agreed that Monday night was about the elements, although he did note there were times when the Patriots could've been more aggressive but chose not to be and that it paid off in the end. Hines did touch on what Guregian asked in his mailbag.

Hines wrote, "To me, the Patriots trust Mac Jones, but they also know his limitations. If he truly can't handle those conditions, then we should be worried here in the Northeast. He’ll certainly get another opportunity in poor weather, so we will have to wait and see what happens when he needs to throw the ball."

There's a difference between rain and snow but people have to remember who Mac Jones played for in college. Nick Saban is of a Similar mindset as Bill Belichick. It's probably why they're good friends and why Bill knew he could take Jones.

In October 2020 Saban talked about playing in wet conditions saying, "That’s all we can do to prepare for it. We can’t make it rain. I think handling the ball is the most important thing, but I also think it’s important to have a mind-set of getting used to handling the ball so it’s not an issue when you’re playing a game.”

Mac Jones did not have an issue throwing the football in the rain for Alabama. And again, I get that snow is different than rain. Mac is already adopting to the cold weather by wearing a scuba suit, just like Tom Brady did. All thanks to the defecto quarterback coach and backup quarterback Brian Hoyer.  If there's other tricks to playing in the snow, be sure that Hoyer's passing them down and preparing Jones.

Look the Tampa bay game, the game in Buffalo, it's all just circumstantial. Bill Belichick made the decisions and McDaniels, Jones, and even Nick Folk just have to execute. There's nothing more they can do. When they execute, there's a W in the win column. When they don't and go wide of the mark, there's an L in the loss column. It's that simple. The Patriots are on a winning streak because they're executing.

So as far as do the Patriots trust Mac Jones, if they didn't there's at least one other game manager on the roster, that they would've replaced him with this past monday being such an important game. The fact that Mac Jones is starting means that at the very least, Bill Belichick trusts him. And after the 2020 season one should know that if Bill trusts the quarterback, he ain't making the change, regardless of how bad they're hurting the offense. And Mac isn't doing that.

Hawaii Players Are Considering All Options To Jump Ship And The University Is Quiet, While The Coach Makes Excuses.

The New England Patriots are off this week, allowing the spotlight to be shifted to other areas on the world of sports. By now pretty much everyone knows there's smoke coming from Hawaii and no I don't mean the valcanos. Head coach Todd Graham of the Rainbow Warriors football team has had some serious allegations made against him and 9 players have left the program via the transfer portal, a record amount but the problems maybe worse than realized.

Hawaii has a bowl game coming up against Memphis but according to Marc Delucchi of SFgate, the players no longer want Graham at the university. Delucchi quoted one player saying, “A lot of players want him fired, especially the starters.” 

There has to be something wrong in the relationship between a player and coach if they want you fired. However, when it's a group of players or more, then there's something wrong with the head coach.

Delucchi had another player tell him, “Me and a lot of others can truthfully say Graham has killed our love and passion for football.”

Who are these players one might ask, out of fear of retaliation, SFGate kept their names secret. If the University or NCAA wants to know, they need to get off their rears and talk to the players.

Delucchi goes on to say players are looking into what they can to leave the program including quitting and that the university refused to respond when asked to talk.  There were more statements made but you have to go check out SFgate.com for what was said.

There's allegations of mistreatment and abuse among many other serious things. Graham is also accused of refusing to talk to some of his players and playing favoritism.

Graham released a statement on this matter after it broke and part of it is sure not to sit well with those making allegations. 

Graham said. "Obviously, I can’t meet with 125 people. But each one of our coaches is meeting with each one of them, and make sure we’re listening, and make sure that we’re learning, and getting better at what we’re doing.”

First, it's BS that he cannot meet with 125 people. He could do it in five to six days, having 30 minute meetings with each and having each of them submit any issues they have in writing. Would take about 13 hours a day including one meal break.

Second, refusing to meet with players is part of the allegations against Todd Graham and he cannot find a way to make time to meet with his players? To make matters worse there are allegations that Graham doesn't even talk with all the members of his staff. This just goes to side with the players.

There are some allegations that I listed that are more severe but the more this story plays out, and with the way Graham and the university of Hawaii are handling this, I have to side more and more with the players and staff making the allegations.

This isn't the first time there have been accusations made against Graham. Arizona state bought out his contract over allegations of being an unfit coach,  giving credit to the accusations. The foot program means a lot to the University of Hawaii and it needs to handle this before too much damage is done. Hawaii is in the process of building a new stadium and sports complex but how can it expect to get players to come or fans in the stands with this looming over head?

Sean McDermott Rallys Support For Belichick Among Patriots Nation

Monday night the Patriots went to Buffalo for a game with severe winds. The two defensive head coaches would prepare with two styles of offense. And it would be a battle of wits to see which defensive coach would prevail.

Bill Belichick would have rookie quarterback Mac Jones throw the ball a mere three times. While Sean McDermott would have veteran quarterback Josh Allen throw the ball thirty times. In the modern era one would think the Bills had to of had the advantage but one would be wrong.

Each team would have the ball with the wind at their backs for a quarter. However, that didn't change how the Patriots approached the play calling. The Patriots would line up heavy and just play 1970s style football. The Patriots ran the ball a total of 47 times. N'Keal Harry got to show off his move tight end blocking ability as he was the main wideout or so it seemed.

The Bills only ran the ball 25 times. Buffalo would have the ball with a chance to score and take the lead in the final minutes of the fourth but they botched it. They put the ball in the hands of Josh Allen and his last two throws could've been better decisions as they both fell incomplete. As a Patriots fan, we were lucky that the one time MVP candidate played like a rookie on his final drive.

The defensive affair was 14-10 but the game should not have been that close. The Patriots decided to have N'keal Harry field a punt. The sky judge ruled the ball touched Harry and Buffalo scored in the first quarter. It was their only points of the first half. The Patriots would score in the first, second, and fourth quarter.

Patriots fans are shredding the Bills for comments made after the game. Mainly head  coach Sean McDermott. McDermott was basically saying the Bills beat themselves but being a division rival, we pats fans cannot let it go.

McDermott said, “Let’s not give more credit than we need to give credit to Bill Belichick in this one." 

Now half the Patriots fanbase loves to rip Belichick for the teams success over the last twenty years, giving compete credit to Tom Brady for all three phases of the game over that span. Even with that, we don't take kindly to anyone outside the fanbase taking credit away from our victories. Patriots Nation was insulted that McDermott would take credit away from the Patriots and out head coach, so they are not letting that comment go.

The Patriots and Bills play again in a few short weeks. There is zero chances the fans in Foxboro let Bill Belichick forget what Sean McDermott said. While the Patriots are sitting atop the AFC, the Bills have been a disappointment. The Bills are now 7-5 on the season and need every win they can get with five games left to make the playoffs. 

Expect a highly emotional game when these two teams meet again. Before the Bills face the Patriots the day after christmas, they must get through former Patriots quarterbacks Tom Brady and Cam Newton. Tom Brady is the GOAT and there are some members of Patriots Nation who think Cam Newton is the GOAT.

While I laugh at that last part, both quarterbacks are capable of making like very miserable for the Bills and their season could be over with before they even head to Gillette Stadium. Buffalo over since 1999 has seemingly been cursed, and fall apart in December. It looked like Sean McDermott broke that curse but we'll truly find out over the next three weeks.

For now, the Patriots are on the bye and there's no reason to watch any nfl football until December 18th when they take on the Indianapolis Colts. Instead tune in and watch the Winnipeg Blue Bombers take on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for the Grey Cup in the CFL championship game at 6pm on Sunday December 12th.  And then after you watch the Patriots beat the Colts on December 18th, tune in at 8pm on Christmas eve as Hawaii hosts Memphis at the Hawaii bowl game before watching the Patriots host the Bills December 26th. 

Todd Graham Is Facing Serious Allegations As The Team Prepares For A Newly Awarded Bowl Game.

If you're a fan of the New England Patriots you've probably heard people like Lane Johnson talk about how the New England Patriots don't have fun. His comments came out after playing with several former Patriots and beating the Patriots in the superbowl. You've probably heard Cassius Marsh talk about how strict the Patriots work regiment is. And you've heard the fanbase call out nepotism because Steve Belichick was promoted after four years of being an assistant coach, to the safeties coach, then defensive backs, and finally linebackers coach, and Brian Belichick was promoted to safeties coach after a few seasons as an assistant coach as well.

What you haven't seen is the team go onto social media to publicly acknowledge any problems and call out Belichick and the organization. Nor have you seen multiple ex players come out and say there's serious internal issues and start offering solutions to fixing the problems. If that sort of thing were to happen, there would be quick action from Robert Kraft.

Now the NFL is a different beast than division one college football but everyone has probably heard of some of the rumors listed above and the defense of the franchise from current and former players but I doubt many have heard about the current problem at the University Of Hawaii causing several players to leave the program or the football team to take to twitter.

Scott at the MWWire wrote, "The news of Cordeiro entering the transfer portal sparked a Twitter live space (I believe that is what you call it) hosted by RJ Hollis, a former Warrior player and now a member of the local media, and another former player Darryl McBride. There were over 300 listeners that stayed on for about three hours as some current and former players spoke about the issues within the program. It was an honest and eye-opening forum for many fans to listen in on."

The players are alleging: verbal abuse, favoritism, refusal to communicate with non starters, doing favors for some members of the staff by employing unqualified people, players being forced to take part in religious activities, players not having fun, players not knowing each other, and there being an unhealthy locker room to name a few things. These are serious allegations.

Head Coach Todd Graham was asked about the players complaints and the public live stream where the locker room brought to light these allegations against him. Graham basically played it off as players not accepting change and work ethic.

Here is some of what coach Graham had to say, “I don’t read Twitter, I don’t do those things. I can tell you my deal is focusing on being positive. We have enough negative things. … At the end of the day, those things are what they are. We talk every day about the commitment, what that commitment is, and working hard. We’re going to work hard. We’re going to be demanding. And when you’re doing things the right way, you have things like that. … Not always going to make everybody happy. We’ve got a great belief in what we’re doing. We know we’re doing things the right way, and we’re making progress.”

Now this isn't the first time Graham has had issues within a program. In 2017 Arizona State paid through the nose to get Todd Graham to step down as head coach. And once again if asked to step down, due to his contract Graham is set to make a boatload from Hawaii. Hawaii cannot really afford for the program to have to buy out his contract.

Some of the Allegations are pretty serious. The NCAA should poke their nose in to the happenings of the university but they shouldn't be the only ones. The university itself needs to conduct an investigation into the allegations. If Graham is found in the wrong, the university needs to do what it needs to do to hold Todd Graham accountable. Fore if things are as bad as said, it could chase away talent and hurt the ability to make future bowl games.

Patriots Resign The Leg To The Practice Squad For Development

This summer the Patriots had a kicker that was booming kicks and it was thought that kicker would become the guy in Foxboro. That guy was Quinn Nordin who ended up on the injured reserve and is now sitting on the practice squad.

These is talk the Patriots like the rookie for bringing him back. After all Nordin was this years undrafted free agent to make the 53 man roster. So they have to like him right? Well they also liked the kicker they drafted in the fifth round of the 2020.draft and he didn't even make it a second season. They tried to develop Rohrwasser and failed, now they're trying to develop Nordin.

With Folk being near perfect this season on field goals it is unlikely that Nordin will ever see a game day roster. However, if the Patriots make the AFC championship game or superbowl, Nordin Could be activated incase the team needs a last second 50 yard field goal. 

At the moment re-signing Nordin to the practice squad is nothing to get excited for. However, it's also reason not to give up on the younger kicker yet. As long as he's around the team, he has a chance at replacing Folk in the future regardless of the odds against him. 

Okay He Won Player Of The Month, Now He Needs The Title Playoff Quarterback

Being named rookie of the month is no small feat. Especially when it appeared early on that the team was playing conservative or didn't trust you. That's what Mac Jones just did. He was not only named the rookie of November but he has the Patriots sitting at 8-4 and in the playoff hunt for the first time since the Tom Brady era ended. And I know it's only been one season but with how bad the passing was last season, every game seemed like an eternity.

Alex Barth of the sports hub wrote. "In four games in November – all wins – Jones completed 76-of-99 passes (76.8 percent) for 854 yards with seven touchdowns and just two interceptions. His 117.2 passer rating led all NFL quarterbacks during the month..."

In January I had Mac Jones as the best passer in the NFL draft and that the Patriots should draft him. I was informed that I didn't know nothing. The bandwagon hopped on and off his name. Insisting that Trevor Lawrence was the best passer but since he was out of reach that the Patriots should go with Trey Lance or Justin Fields. Don't get me wrong, I had Fields as my number two quarterback selection for the Patriots but I wanted Mac. And I told everyone so...

Kharl Thompson also noted, "The young quarterback is the first Patriots rookie to win Player of the Month since Chandler Jones did it in 2012."

Now the playoffs are far from a gimmie as they have a tough schedule. They haven't even played the Bills yet and that's sure to be two tough games for the rookie quarterback and his team.

Mac Jones was quoted about the upcoming schedule as saying, "i think people who love football want to get a chance to play in games like these. I know all the guys on both teams want to play in games like this. It’ll be a great experience. I know they have a bunch of great fans, and it’s football, so you’ve just got to go out there and play the game that we’ve all played since we were little kids.”

Now there are many who discredit the importance of football and sports. They call it a kids game. Football is America's game and America is often compared to Rome. It's well noted that Rome used entertainment to calm the mental health of the land. With history.com writing:

"It was believed by those who ran Rome that the people could be kept happy and content if they had access to varied and enjoyable entertainment."

But that is another story for another day.

People complain that Mac Jones doesn't make big or splashy plays. That he doesn't have the running ability of some of the other rookie quarterbacks. In fact they try to use the terms "game manager" and "dink and dunk" as insults towards Jones. To that I say if that effected his level of play. He wouldn't be the rookie of the month.

There has been talk among Patriots fans about Mac winning the rookie of the year. At the moment. I only care about him winning a playoff birth.

As a starter Mac Jones has completed 70.3% of his 381 attempts for 2850 yards with 16 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. Jones has been sacked 24 times in eleven games. Jones has also rushed for 14 first downs and has 4 fumbles on the season. 

That's all great but I'm pretty sure if someone asked Mac Jones if he would trade stats for Ws that he would do so in a heartbeat. 

Currently the only thing that matters is this Monday night against the Buffalo Bills. Buffalo is riding high since winning the division last season or at least the Rochester, New York section of the Bills' mafia is. A win monday would go a long way into knocking them down to reality and towards clinching a playoff birth and number one seed.

Three Traits A Quarterback Needs To Be Great And McDaniels Says Jones Has Them.

Accuracy, anticipation, and awareness are three things that Patriots fans got used to from the quarterback position over the last 20 years and something that was clearly missing throughout the 2020 season. And the added athleticism to the position last season did not make up for it, as it was little to no help in the passing game.

Those three things are why Josh McDainels thinks Mac Jones is having success this season. There things the all time greats excelled in. It's clear that Mac Jones is at a high level when it comes to those traits, those mental gifts. And we see how he uses those talents every week.

McDaniels said, "I think the first thing is the ball placement. Your accuracy and ball placement is something you can work hard to try to improve as a coach. But many times, naturally, a player will have that. That will be their strength or weakness. I would say that Mac came here with that as a very strong point in his game."

McDaniels continued, "There’s an anticipation, a hand-eye anticipation, based on how fast the receiver, tight end, back, how fast he’s moving across the formation, how fast he’s moving vertically. Then when you have to let the ball go and when you let it go, what trajectory do you have to let it go at? There’s a lot that goes into that in a short amount of time and Mac has naturally had the ability to lead his receivers, put the ball in a place where they can catch and run in front of them and try to keep it away from the defenders at the same time.”

McDaniels added, “I also think he has the awareness. We talk about understanding who you’re throwing it to and how far away they are. Because if you’re talking about a back on a checkdown who’s seven yards in front of you, you don’t need a howitzer to blow his helmet off.

So, understanding that is a different throw than say the in-cut he rips in there to Kendrick Bourne the other day, where the window’s smaller and we need to get it in there quick because the windows closing. Any quarterback that is an accurate passer, has good ball placement, has an understanding of changing up the pace of his throws and understanding who he’s throwing to and what kind of throw is required in order to make it a successful throw, Mac does a nice job at basically all those things. I think we’ve seen a lot of different types of throws from him during the course of the year.”

Now Mac Jones isn't just getting praise from his offensive coordinator. Over the past few weeks, Peyton Manning, Joe Montana, Dan Marino, and Kurt Warner have all praised the Patriots rookie quarterback. 

Manning said talking about Jones's play this season after a pass to Henry versus the Browns, "Everybody’s fired up. Even Bill Belichick’s fired up. Look at the excitement and the enthusiasm he’s showing on this play. It is awesome..." "That's really good stuff there by Mac Jones."

Kurt Warner has said, "There’s some things that I really, really like that I’m seeing from Mac Jones that lets me know this guy is going to be a good quality starter in this league for a long time. The one question will be: Will he be a championship-type quarterback? And if he is, what will that look like? Where does he make the game-changing plays for his team.”

Montana has called the 49ers not taking Mac a mistake and Marino has said what Jones's doing at the moment can't be done better.

The fact is people are seeing how good Jones is. People are seeing areas for improvement but acknowledge that Mac Jones is playing at a high level. Some have even said Jones has already broken his ceiling. Jones is currently a candidate for rookie of the year.

June Jones and Charlie Weiss, two respected names in football both said that Jones was the best quarterback in this draft class. People thought they were both silly with Trevor Lawrence being labelled "generational" but so far once again, Mental traits are showing they can beat physical traits at the moment. And Mac Jones is only going to get better with development.

Mac Jones may never run a 4.40 but will the other quarterbacks ever develop his anticipation, his accuracy, and his recognition abilities? They might improve but they'll never be on Jones's level in those areas. These physical quarterbacks will never be on Jones's mental level.

So instead of getting but hurt when people compare Mac Jones to Joe Montana or Tom Brady, appreciate that people are resetting his ceiling that high. I mean, there were scouting reports that said he wouldn't be any better than Kirk Cousins. Non Patriot fans might want that to be true but I cannot imagine the fanbase wants Kirk Cousins as their franchise quarterback.

So if McDaniels see three major areas a quarterback needs to be good at in Mac Jones and is willing to publicly admit it, the world should take notice that the Patriots are on the verge of being back to where they left off in 2019. And that is among the league's best teams.

All I can say is with how well a mobile quarterback did at operating the Patriots offense in 2020, thank god general manager Bill Belichick drafted Mac Jones instead of one because like many, I couldn't stand a repeat of the 2020 offense. Now all we need is the Patriots to draft third down back Calvin Turner Jr from the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors in the 2022 draft.

Let the good times roll, we're on to Tennessee.

Mac Might Be 2008 Cassel But 2008 Cassel Wasn't Far From 2001 Brady Statistically.

It's pretty safe to say most people are comparing Mac Jones to Tom Brady's 2001 season and that people underestimated his ceiling. The rookie is doing pretty well at matching what we saw from the sophomore season of Tom Brady but Aryanna Prasad thinks that people are comparing Mac Jones's rookie season to wrong quarterback and believes we should be comparing him to Matt Cassel's 2008 season.

Prasad said people need to look at stats and situations the two quarterbacks walked into. She acknowledged that Cassel's offense was more high powered but says they were both Belichick teams built for a good quarterback to operate.

Prasad wrote, "If the 16-game projection isn’t convincing enough, looking at the first 11 games of the season reveals that Cassel and Jones stood shoulder to shoulder stat-wise through these weeks.

• Matt Cassel, through 11 games in 2008: 238-359, 2,615 yards, 13 TDs, 8 INTs
• Mac Jones through 11 games in 2021: 245-349, 2,540 yards, 14 TDs, 8 INTs"

Cassel led the Patriots to an 11-5 record. That wasn't bad but it wasn't Brady like, or was it? Nobody ever compared 2008 Cassel to 2001 Brady. Cassel just missed the playoffs. Mac Jones is currently sitting 7-4 far better than anyone expected the Patriots to be at this moment. 

Prasad wrote, "With two games against the Bills and a Titans matchup, it’s unlikely the Patriots escape 2021 with just one more loss. A 17th game and a weakened AFC still allows the Pats to pave a path to the playoffs."

So Jones and the Patriots would have to continue to beat expectations to finish 5 and 1 to close the season. The Patriots have been playing better each week but there have also been signs that the team still has room for improvement. So finishing with just five losses is improbable but not impossible.

Now I am sure that there are people who are upset at the idea that anyone would compare Mac Jones to Matt Cassel but is it really that big of an insult? Look at what Cassel accomplished.

The first thing one needs to consider is Matt Cassel was a seventh round draft pick from 2005. Seventh rounders are not supposed to be more than career backups at best when it comes to most positions. It's part of what makes Brady's story so awe inspiring.

Matt Cassel was named a pro bowl selection in 2010. He would also start a playoff game, although he would lose. No small feat for a seventh round quarterback. While playing in 107 games, he would start 81 of times.

Over his career Cassel was put in a position to have 9 fourth quarter comebacks and 12 game winning drives.

Besides Kansas City and New England, Cassel played for some bad teams. Yet he still managed to put up a 7-12 record for the other five garbage teams that were playing for draft spots instead of wins.

From 2008 to 2017, Cassel would start a minimum of 2 games a season. As a starter Cassel would have a 36-45 career record. With two 10 win seasons. Cassel would throw 102 touchdowns to only 82 interceptions.

Cassel completed 58.8 of his 2683 attempts for 17,508 yards. Over his 14 year career, he was sacked 210 times. He would also rush for 5 touchdowns. 

Cassel was either an over achiever or he was drafted three rounds too late. Mac Jones is a first round quarterback and his stats should be better than Cassel's. Let's take a look at the pro football reference to see some per game stats.

Cassel attempted 25.1 attempts per game to Mac Jones's 31.7. 

Cassel completed 14.7 passes a game, Jones is completing 22.3. 

Cassel averaged 163.6 yards per game, Jones is averaging 230.9

Cassel averaged 1 touchdown and .8 interceptions a game. Jones is averaging 1.3 touchdowns and .7 interceptions. 

Cassel averaged 2 sacks a game and 10.8 yards per pass. Jones is also averaging 2 sacks a game and 16.6 yards per pass. Cassel averaged 9.6 rushing yards a game on 2.5 carries, Jones is averaging 5.5 yards on 2.3 carries. 

While Jones is more accurate, he's also throwing the ball more. Which gives more chances to inflate his stats to look better than Cassel's. Cassel played well enough for the Chiefs to want him to start, and people are second guessing whether teams made the right decision on not drafting Mac.

So I would say based off Cassel's career, it's a fair comparison to say that Mac is at least as good as Matt Cassel but Mac is still on pace to be as good as Brady's 2001 season, in some areas he already is.

In 2001 Brady averaged:

189.5 yards passing per game

17.6 completions per game for a 63.9% completion percentage 

1.8 touchdowns a game, .8 interceptions a game

2.7 sacks a game with 10.8 yards per completion

Brady also averaged 2.9 yards rushing on 2.4 carries a game.

Brady also had 3 fourth quarter comebacks (mac has 1).

I would say Brady's floor when he came into the league was Matt Cassel and Mac Jones appears to have the same floor. Mac Jones has a chance to statistically put up better numbers than what Brady had his sophomore season. And although improbable, it's not impossible for Mac to lead the Patriots to the superbowl this season.

While Mac Jones probably will never come close to winning half as many superbowls as Brady, he's looking like his career stats could come close to Brady's as long as he continues to improve. So while it's true his stats do resemble Cassel's, the eye test resembles 2001 Brady. And fans should be excited for the potential that Mac Jones has.

There maybe only one Brady and that's okay because all we need is Mac to continue to play his game and improve. We don't need a second Tom Brady but we wouldn't mind if he came close. And I don't think anyone in Patriots nation would disagree with that.