Mac Jones has been impressive through the first two games of his career, showcasing to the rest of the NFL the New England Patriots will be fine in the post-Tom Brady era. Jones had the fourth-highest completion percentage by a rookie in Week 1 since the merger (74.4%) and is the first quarterback in league history with a completion percentage over 70% in each of his first two career games (minimum 10 attempts).
Even though Jones has been impressive throwing the football, New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Dennis Allen is impressed with another aspect of Jones’ game — not typical for a rookie quarterback.
“The number one thing is that he’s protecting the football for the most part,” Allen said Thursday. “I think that’s critical with any young quarterback. Certainly, when you look at what coach (Bill) Belichick’s been able to do, one of the hallmarks is obviously they don’t turn the ball over and they understand how to help a young quarterback. I see this quarterback doing a really good job of being smart with the football.”
Jones has yet to throw an interception or fumble the football through two games, playing 134 snaps. He’s completed 73.9% of his passes for 469 yards with one touchdown and zero interceptions for a 96.7 rating — the highest for any rookie quarterback with 10-plus pass attempts in the league. Of the rookie quarterbacks that have thrown 10-plus pass attempts, Jones is the only player to complete over 60% of his passes — and the only one to earn a victory as a starter.
“I think he does a really good job of going through his progressions and he takes what the defense gives him and doesn’t try to force the ball,” Allen said. “He’s willing to check the ball down some. They certainly have an alert system within their offense and they can check from a pass to a run or a run to a pass based on the look that they’re seeing, maybe it’s a run or a run check, but you certainly see all the checks at the line of scrimmage that you would expect from a New England offense.”
Excited for the biggest NFL schedule in history? Follow along on the CBS Sports app and get the latest insights from our team of NFL insiders, plus news from our team of experts, as well as data insights on every player. If you already have the CBS Sports app, make sure to favorite the your favorite team so you don’t miss a thing!
