Letters from Patriots Camp 2021: Volume 5 (Joint Practice with the Giants)

If there was any questions remaining about whether Mac Jones was going to take advantage of the situation presented by Cam Newton choosing the Covid jab over his starting job, it could not have been asked and answered more loudly than did today. Actually, over the last couple of days. 

During Tuesday's team practice, he threw an astonishing 40 passes. Today, in joint practices with the Giants, he threw north of 50. In every type of practice scenario imaginable. Goal line 7-on-7s. Situational reps in 11-on-11s. Full squad, game condition scrimmages with a full team of officials calling them like a regular season game. Two minute drills. The coaching staff of both teams emptied their clips and then threw the empty gun at him. And I'm not exaggerating when I tell you he threw so few incompletions that you can practically recite them. Particularly in the game condition reps, you could give his missed passes the names of "Friends" characters without ever getting as far Chandler.  There were that few of them. 

And this was all in tough conditions for anyone to take on that kind of workload. It was so steamy on the practice field behind Gillette that I half expected some mob bosses sitting around in towels taking a schvitz. Even the media tent felt like the Hot Box from "Cool Hand Luke." Isaiah Wynn, for one, had to slowly walk his 310 pounds slowly into the locker room, and looked more punchy from the heat and humidity than visibly injured. And yet Jones was firing Katniss Everdeen arrows from the beginning of practice to the end, two hours later. 

In goal line 7s early on, he spread the ball around, with touchdowns of 5-of-6 attempts, one to James White, the next and last to Hunter Henry (wearing a red shirt because he's not all the way back yet), one to N'Keal Harry and one to Kristian Wilkerson. The only miss was a pass intended for Nelson Agholor at the cone which was broken up, but had no chance of being picked. (Let's call that one Rachel.) 

After that, in 11s, he hit Jakobi Meyers in the flat, found Agholor on a 20-yard out breaking route. He almost got picked looking to Agholor again, on a play where he anticipated the break before his target made it. but left it on his back hip. So that one (Ross) was off by half a step at most. He then went to Gunner Olszewski on a deep slant outside the numbers for a hookup that had The Gun Show jumping in the air for the shoulder bump on the sidelines and again with Jones. 

By some people's math, he completed 18 in a row. 

I'll take Jeff Howe's word for it because I carefully honed my skills of getting distracted and talking when I should be paying attention over a long and mediocre academic career. But I have no problem believing it, Jones was just that much in command. 

James White was the primary target, but by no means does that suggest he was being Checkdown Charlie. Jones dropped one into his outside shoulder up the right sidelines, away from inside leverage by the defender, good for about 20 yards and two steps in bounds. Toward the end of practice, Jones hit White on a wheel route for about 20 up the left side, beating a linebacker. All in all it was a great chance for the two of them to work on chemistry, and what they produced as pure as anything from a Walter White and Jesse Pinkman cook. 

It bears repeating that by far the best wide receiver on the roster is Meyers. It's not even close. He high pointed a ball to haul in a 30 yarder at the numbers, came down and was sitting on the ground for a couple of minutes. But he held onto the damn ball. [Slowly turns head to Harry and holds his gaze.] He's just a handful to cover in that underneath middle of the field where so many previous slot guys achieved greatness. Mostly it's his route-running, which is smooth and efficient, with no wasted motion that makes it hard as hell to anticipate his breaks. As opposed to say, Wilkerson. Everyone at OTAs loved the guy, but he's just sort of dropped off. And his cuts are as sharp as one of those big trucks with the sign that says "This vehicle takes wide turns." 

Another receiver who is - I'm going to be polite here, because he's new - Kendrick Bourne. You still see him getting pointed in the direction he's supposed to line up. Which would be fine if he was a recent acquisition and maybe even a rookie. Or a first grader doing "Polar Express" in the Christmas pageant. But not only has he been in the system since he was signed, literally before the actual free agent period began, he played with Jimmy Garoppolo in Mike Shanahan's offense, so there ought to be some familiarity. Fine, it's too soon to worry. Much. But we've all seen those guys who come in here and learn the language right away, and others who never, ever get it. And wouldn't if they had lifetime to study. Bourne needs to put away the Rosetta Stone CDs and just immerse himself already. (I assume Rosetta Stone is an app now or something and that's a date reference. CDs just felt better.) 

Still, my personal favorite Jones throw came in hurry up late in camp, when an unaccounted for pass rusher came free. And by free, I mean about a Hadron Particle Collider reaction after the shotgun snap got in his hands. But he reacted, shifted his feet to the outside, and beat the rush with a safe throw to his hot route, Isaiah Zuber on the sidelines. Which is exactly the kind of play that the ancients referred to as Rookie Quarterback's Bane. But he handled it like a veteran. A good one. 

Defensively, the Pats were able to do the opposite to Daniel Jones. Playing mostly the guys who have been their starters this camp - so JC Jackson and Jalen Mills at outside corner, Jonathan Jones in the slot, with Adrian Phillips and Kyle Dugger as in the box safeties, Dont'a Hightower and Kyle Van Noy at linebacker, Matt Judon off the edge and a cast of thousands rotating through along the line - they were able to disguise rushes and keep Jones guessing where the Whack-a-Blitzer was going to pop up. 

Against Jones' passes, Dugger had an interception. Hightower was in zone coverage with two men open, had to guess which route to defend and chose wisely to break up a pass. And at least one deep Daniel Jones deep shot was defended by Michael Jackson, who was on his receiver's hip a good 40 yards upfield. 

I'll probably expand on this before the season begins for real. But if I had to guess, I'd say the best free agent they signed will be Judon. He's active in every aspect of what Bill Belichick's system asks of its edge defenders. Rushing, dropping into coverage, turning outside runs back toward the defense. I'm not sleeping on Jonnu Smith or Hunter Henry. I just think Judon will have a bigger impact.

Speaking of Belichick (since when do I not? It's made for some awkward moments in the bedroom, believe me), during the warmup portion of the workout, he met with the officials and Joe Judge. And you could see the look on Judge's face that said "I've been a head coach for two years, and here I am stuck in another one of this guy's meetings." But then as soon as practice was over, Judge brought his team over to the hill behind the field - Dante's Peak - for some running. That's an honor that's probably never been afforded to another man. Like being the first Westerner to be allowed to enter the Forbidden City. 

When Belichick wasn't hanging with Judge, he spent the bulk of his time with Matt Patricia, with a fair amount of Tedy Bruschi in that mix. Which reduced Jon Bon Jovi to his familiar role of being the guy you have at your party to make you look cool, but then you leave him hanging.

For the most part, the Pats starting O-line was out there for the duration, with the exception of Wynn. And when he came out, it gave reps to Yodny Cajuste, who has really looked good this preseason. It's possible that he's healthy for the first time since they took him out of West Virginia in the 2019 draft, and that this is what they expected when they took him. Regardless, he says he's spent the last two years in meetings taking "mental reps" and waiting for his shot. Both Wynn and Trent Brown have injury histories, and Cajuste looks like the choice to be the designated swing tackle and first guy off the bench in three tackle Jumbo formations. He did miss one assignment on an outside zone to his side. But otherwise kept Jones from getting virtually hit. So that's a win. 

So I'll end this where we began. Mac Jones is not the story of camp. He's Stories 1-through-99. Everything else comes after. And even aside from his reads and throws, his pocket awareness and how he moves, it's undeniable that he's got that quality that you can't define but you know it when you see it. The way he carries himself. Like he belongs here. Like he's comfortable doing exactly what he's doing, but by no means is satisfied that it's good enough. Between offensive sets, Josh McDaniels pulls him and Brian Hoyer aside while they take a knee and he goes over things. And Mac gives off the vibe of someone who's listening, learning, processing, and dying to get back under center to apply the lesson. Then at one point the whole offense took a short lap around the goal post. It didn't seem like it was a punishment lap, but more of a just because lap. Jones was out in front the whole time, then ended it with a finishing kick that left all the Big & Tall store shoppers in the dust before huddling them all up again. 

So far, Jones has shown no time when he looked like the moment was too big for him. Today, while a practice, was about as close to game conditions as you'll find, going up against a well coached, solid defense playing their starters. And he rolled up on them. We've all be wondering when Jones will overtake Newton to become the Alpha of this team. Today might have been what that moment looked like. 

 Tomorrow will tell.