When the New England Patriots take the field for their preseason opener against the New York Giants, second-year quarterback Mac Jones is not expected to be under center.
According to ESPN reporter Mike Reiss, most of the Patriots starters are expected to sit out this Thursday’s game against the G-Men.
Considering the recent reports about New England’s offense have been concerning, the NFL world would like to see Jones operate Matt Patricia’s scheme in an actual game situation.
“My goodness,” Joe Schad tweeted. “Sure sounds like Mac could use live reps in the Patricia offense.”
“Completely torn between being mega bummed by this, and also grateful for it at the same time,” one fan said.
“Even less excited for the game tonight,” another fan wrote.
“This would seem to be more because the starters can’t run the ‘new offense’ yet than anything else. Mac is only a 2nd year pro, he should be out there for more than 1 preseason game,” a third fan tweeted.
Earlier this week, Reiss said there have been too many “no-chance plays” for the offense during training camp.
“There have been at least a couple times in each training camp practice when quarterbacks Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe are holding on to the ball for an extended period of time before either scrambling or throwing it away,” Reiss said. “One play stood out to me on Thursday as Jones rolled out to his right and just flipped the football underhanded out of bounds. There was simply nothing there and Jones quickly seemed resigned to that outcome. It’s not that there haven’t been successful plays, but the chance of ‘no-chance’ plays has been notable.”
Although the Patriots will sit most of their starters this Thursday evening, they have joint practices with the Carolina Panthers scheduled for next week. The offense can work on its problems during those practices.