Mac Jones Preseason Week 3 2024 Analysis

hi everybody Welcome to the QB school I am JT Sullivan today M Jones preseason week three locked in let's get it going welcome to the QB [Music] school before we dive into the video quick reminder about the quarterback School patreon Community this group is the Foundation the Bedrock of the channel not only is it a great cheap way to support the channel but you get even more quarterback School content so hop over there join become a member I appreciate your support as for this video let's get into it Mac Jones I'll be honest uh I didn't even know what team Mac Jones was on till somebody asked for it I had to look it up and Google it right here we're going to take a shot on a double move you know I love the fact that M Jones is throwing the ball down the field I don't necessarily love this decision uh it's not easy throw I'm sure if he had to play it over again he would probably work it inside out so I'm used to when you get these kind of we'll call it I'll call it double moves but if if this is the play we're going to stutter and come up here it's essentially all go up there the timing of it is a little funky if I catch true two I'm thinking inside out one to two if I catch quarters you know I'm thinking more one-onone outside the numbers to the backside but if we catch any iteration of like I don't know Palms Cloud this guy wants to get involved that it just seems that that's a difficult difficult throw so you're going to come out here and pump it and throw the ho shot and again it's always easy when you turn on the film and the inside guy's wide ass open but just look when he makes that decision so pump and then throw and the the other thing I would say and I feel like I talk about this on damn near every other pump situation here is as you pump as a quarterback you now you might think you're pumping the player who's looking at you and you are but really the route has to beat him because you're responsible also for the near safety in almost every instance and in Middlefield open or split field coverage this guy's gonna be right on top of that and that's why I say oftentimes vers Middlefield open looks or Middlefield close looks with a post safety when you pump you've got to be able to get it up and down before the safety well it's the same in Middlefield open now that safety is just way outside the hash pushing the numbers and he's going to close on that thing so I mean you know a more catchable ball here and that safety probably makes a play it just is an unnecessarily difficult throw and again I think it it burns a little deeper when you look at the inside route and it would have been a big chunk on the seam so just felt forc felt predetermined you know I I will say just watching M Jones and it's been a minute but this film will kind of show the same thing you know he has never looked like a guy to me that is very comfortable in the pocket for whatever reason and maybe been hit one too many times you know didn't work out well pass prowise in New England but right here this just felt forced felt predetermined couldn't finish the throw next one here really cool little designed long trap action we going to come and Bluff that now or quick screen up top hit that kind of bluff slant going back in before you get to the Cur Defender so quick play fake you see the guard go left guard goes that's going to pull the linebacker second level players create that little hole I think the wide receiver makes this throw look worse than it is if I'm being honest so bit of a unique design here as far as the 2 by two formation we're going to stack this group so we're going to fake that quick screen now screen whatever you want to call it smoke Bluff and then run that slant and you know I'm not sure exactly what they want to do path Pro prowise here but they're pulling the guard but they're also blocking the tight end I would say normally you'd want to get four out here and then probably on the backside all you're going to have is like a little in so there's not a lot of great options here if this window isn't here now again you can see here the immediate kind of bubble that this is created in the defense so when we go to pull so the offensive lineman pulls the second level linebacker types they step up and it creates this big void for us to then be able to take it and put it right on it with this little Bluff you can watch him kind of come off like he's going to block and then we just slip right in there so it's a well-designed play this is I wouldn't say a a very you know you see plays this welld designed in the preseason right off them and again the wide receiver makes that throw look low it's not perfect I don't think we have to go down it's not necessarily like a baseball slide situation catch it get some Yak going on that thing but I love the design I like the formation with the stack we're pulling the guard the only thing I would add here is probably normally you want to get the tight end out so you have something else on the backside if it isn't there next one you're third and five now we start getting into the you know what I would classify as some some pocket weird decisions is the nicest way to put it some looks uncomfortable in the pocket so get sack chalk off the field by yourself you be the judge here you know does he have to move up does this feel panicky in the pocket you know does he think he's going to go run there through that lane maybe I mean maybe he just doesn't know himself uh we'll talk a little bit about the pass Pro and kind of how he ends up getting down here but this to me is one of those things where we just need to be able to read this thing out now there are a few things that I don't necessarily love I'm going to call this a flood concept down here to the bottom so when I think of flood I think of a deep clear some sort of corner deep out and something in the flat and that's like a traditional High School hairy flood what a lot of teams seem to be doing now is from the two running the clear whether that's an inside fade or clear now we're running the sail or circus Corner out from the number three and then the number one is either running like a burst or like a short in So at the end of the day you know concept-wise once you understand the play it's clear Corner something in the flat but how they get there is a little funky here so could he come out and put it right here yes could he hold on to the ball and potentially throw it here yes is the pocket movement strange does it look you know see this lightly panicky yes it it does to me just stay in there and put it on the number one down here to the bottom reading this thing low to high or if you got more time sit in the pocket and throw it to the number three right there You Know M and again the reason that I don't like this play the play design like this is because this number two takes longer to get through this clear so when it takes longer to get through the clear this corner now can kind of hang in muddy this pitchure that should be this you see it come open eventually but to me this corner because of the design of the play is kind of hanging here because this guy gets rerouted and takes forever so they're kind of like all in the the same space so the spacing of it just feels funky so again I'm not saying it looks great down the field but we could certainly throw it to the underneath guy for a first down hitch throw as opposed to thinking we're going to Hitch and take off and run and become like a dual guy and then pass prowise here you know you see a lot of chips in the league so watch the back here normally you want to if you're going to come out here chip and get into your checkdown great love it what you don't want to do is Screw The Tackle so he's setting he usually knows that you're going to chip So you you're you're essentially like a barrier here what you don't want to do is he's engaged he's blocking him and then the chip knocks him off and essentially gives him like a turbo boost to the quarterback you can't do that and that's kind of what the running back does here and again it's it's preseason you're going to see some some bad pass Pro but this is not the chip we're looking for right you see how he knocks him off of him that's a bummer and again M Jones hitch stay there throw you know maybe a different type of quarterback sees that hole and takes off that hasn't been you up until this point next one here another rough pocket movement rep so this is a panic checkdown Skip and I mean you can tell he's disappointed with his body language the the Comfort level from the pocket if mat Jones ever has to play again is is something is really the first thing I'm going to be looking at I mean this is a dumpster fire R there's no sugar way there's no way to sugar coat it that's a dumpster fire you can't TBO a checkdown like that that's brutal now it's a very similar concept to what we talked about last time as far as down here you know this is a little bit more scissors e vers flood I think a flood is this you know as more of a go flat this to me is more scissors Z where we're going to come out go post think they run corner from the number three and this guy either does a little flat or return or whatever's something in the flat think up top they have a little curl and the check down now you might not like anything and the check down might be the throw but we can't get out of there in the pocket like this this is uh this is just not the look any quarterback wants right I mean there's no reason to go here he he doesn't even give it a hitch he's hitching and running and then skipping that thing is brutal I'm not sure there's necessarily anywhere to go down the field pushing it down the field well you could probably come out here and throw this thing underneath to the right or you could throw the check down by sitting your feet but you can't get on the Move bail essentially exit early out the front door and Spike a check down holy moly next one here second and four little short motion down here to the bottom we're going to run a little quick out I like this decision I like just getting a completion seeing it go through the net no I think M Jones here looks decisive it's not the most dynamic throw in the world but it's to the wide side it's on time you know three no hitch here driving that thing it looks good it looks like a you know thrown with a little bit of velocity for someone who maybe doesn't have the strongest AR arm in the world to come out here and drive this thing now again you know it's quick out season right and you know every system is going to be a little different to me on this little like spray quick out you know if it's a version of Smash then I could understand the three-step but if we know we're going to throw this I think most teams would run either two or one step here to get the ball out quickly and why I harp on that is because when you throw it and it's three step or even three no hitch you catch the ball on the sideline you really don't have an opportunity to make a move as opposed to throwing it on time and even if I hate the route you throw it on time now you can spin up make something happen you have a little bit more grass on the sideline or turf on the sideline you know the timing of this I get it if it's if if he's trying to throw the corner and that corner just gets so much depth that we throw it to the quick out but again you catch it on the sideline right now you don't have a chance to make a move and it's you know we get a first down but it's a 5 yard gain so again the connection between what we're trying to do the footwork it's always part of playing the position let's assume that he's doing the correct footwork for what they're they're asking him to do three no hitch it looks nice rhythmical all those cleats in the ground drive it put it right on him well done next one here this one of my favorite throws of the day we're going to throw the up top the little corner or deep out we play with a little anticipation nice job I think M Jones has a little bit of a tendency when he's going to his left it's a little bit harder of a throw we got a little bit more drifty a little bit more leany to the left the ball kind of dies on us we're less accurate to the left but still this is a very nice job being able to play this play with anticipation and that's the first thing that jumps off the film the next thing here is just be able to read this thing out put it right on them a little low high you see teams have run this forever whether it's a true out or more of a rolled Corner doesn't really matter you can just see here when he throws it though you know he's got a little sink at the end as opposed to you know a little bit of like firm drive it right up on his face pushing that thing vertically with a fast ball outside the numbers and again I think he could help himself with the top of his drop being less drifty leany but I'll pause it right at the top before he lets it go so you can see the anticipation he's tapping it right there right there he's throwing it again he's not out of the break yet so well done with the anticipation just the you know that that acceleration that torque that explosiveness to be able to drive the ball I don't think has ever been his strength but again just watch him at the back kick left clicky right narrow base leaning left moving left ball dies on you a little bit usually goes to the left next one here touchdown pass bottom of the screen a beautiful back shoulder I love the Rhythm the Bas the footwork the ball everything about this play is outstanding for M Jones the footwork is outstanding great base again short side to the right a little bit easier that is a beautiful throw right up on his face go up jump body that thing got it again watch the base with Mac Jones at the top see how there's no heel click I mean that is beautiful that this is a perfect drive that thing all his cleats in the ground you can see the match up down here to the bottom press one-on-one outside the numbers you like the matchup back shoulder give your guy a chance beautiful ball and just a really outstanding job so you can see here you certainly got the ability to do this I think you just want to see it more consistently and again that to me this ball looks firmer like he's driving it it's awesome next one here third and three now this is a it's a little iffy of a rip we're going to rip the spray quick out down here to the bottom versus zero now we get the first down it's a very nice throw as far as the ball location I would guess this is not how you want to do it footwork wise it looks like he kind of hes this thing has some wasted movement at the back but he makes up for it with a little bit of velocity and accuracy so first here just watch zero and there's four out four in coverage all playing man okay you want to rip the spray out down here to the bottom the little spray quick out I just say spray because he kind of widens this route again we've already seen him go three no hitch right when he was working it with a corner more smashy this time he goes one and you can see kind of the like uh the the pain Manning like the up like the not necessarily just the feet moving which I don't you know you just don't see very many people besides pton Manning 25 years ago doing so I it just looks like they're not quite on the same page he doesn't trust it Like H you can see that just kind of like and again this is living on the edge because if you miss at all inside this thing STI the other way so the throw the accuracy makes up for I think the trust the timing the ability to be on the same page as far as footwork all those things could make this a little easier can just just watch that little wasted movement with his feet right now beats the Free Runner because he's going to take a shot if he holds it any longer we're hot zero it's a beautiful ball though first down halftime you dig the channel and 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video let's get back to it next one here we're going to throw a speed out little spray speed out up top we're going to miss this thing out in front now I think a lot of coaches would say hey this is a good miss you don't want to miss this behind the receiver because it ends up being a pick six the other way but this is also a throw I think he could make again I've already alluded to the fact that going to the left he feels he looks like he's a bit of a leaner more than anything else so when I what I mean that is when you hit your back foot you're not going to necessarily have all your energy in a perfectly straight line to exactly where you want but I think you want to do your best to kind of stay within the the path that you're generating your torque your Force to go towards the target what you don't want to do is step to left field and then fall off this way that's going to make this throw significantly harder and it's already a very difficult throw so speed out to the left spray out you know we're trying to rip this thing right here which you definitely don't want want to do is throw it behind him so if you're going to miss this is a spot to miss but again you know you be the judge here on what you think he's doing at the back end as far as is he generating the force that he wants in the direction he wants to go to me it looks like he's bailing out to the left stepping to the left falling off to the left and the ball guess what goes to the left the other thing I would say here just watching him throw he got and it's hard from this angle Maybe we have a better angle from behind the other cue that you'll hear a lot that I really like is trying to keep your eyes level so the the less head movement the better so as you kind of fall off if you get have a lot of head movement one way or the other the ball's usually going to go that way left or if you're moving to the right going to go to the right so trying to keep those eyes as level as possible is a nice reminder way to do it to be able to think okay instead of you know I'm going to the left I'm going to all my energy going to the left I want to stay still and just rotate around my body just rotate through it as a more opposed to hey I'm going left I'm falling off left I'm leaning left so he's got a lot of head movement here too so not only is he stepping left he's head's moving left and the ball goes left you almost hit a cheer later so again th you know this film is not always the best film to watch for these kind of like little Nuance details but again you know just looking at his helmet here to me he's he's moving that thing a lot to the left as opposed to trying to keep your eyes still and just rotating around that front side again we can make that throw next one here another rep of Max Jones not looking comfortable in the pocket so we're going to be hot down here to the bottom the right tackle on a big squeeze we're going to throw the flat hot to the bottom we got to be able to hook that up and again you can tell he's disappointed in himself it just doesn't look comfortable more than anything else it's not that he can't make this throw okay this is it's not an easy throw but it's not a difficult throw e either for round one NFL quarterback but it just looks it looks out of sorts as far as the tempo that he's playing with with his feet he looks a little jittery he's backing up right I mean he doesn't get hit here just find a way to get that thing off put it on him play the next play and this is what it it looked like and what my memory is of New England and Jones it it just there were a few games where you just could not make sense of what was happening in the pocket I think it was the Dallas game off the top my head but man it was probably too soon for too many New England fans if both these guys are blitzing and the right tackle has what I'm used to calling a big duel so he's got the most dangerous of that you're going to close the door on the inside Gap and the Free Runner is going to be right here we've got a hot answer right into our face you just set your feet and throw essentially a glorified screen here as long as you don't have like a Cloud Corner down here to the bottom to blow up the flat so again just you know you be the judge on what M Jones looks like in the pocket here I think it's even worse from The End Zone and again that that's a throw we've got a hit so we're we're skipping checkdowns we're overthrowing Flats when we're hot just tough to make sense of that you know that kind of pocket presence right now but we bounce back third and 10 right here we throw a DOT to the number three up top the new number three on a corner they got a little scissors Looper return going on up top catch closed man Corner wins beautiful throw right on him looks this rep looks totally different right he looks poised he looks under control looks calm in the pocket sturdy great base puts it right where he wants I mean that's a beautiful throw the it's just kind of it when you look at it holistically it's all over the place as far as a the performance but man the highs are really nice so again we're catching closed here man what I'm going to call scissors here post here's where the ball goes to the corner really nice throw then I think they run some version of like a loop or return here so he fakes out and comes back in so you know scissors version of flood however you want to describe it you know initially I'm thinking he we're probably not going to get the leverage we want to the corner versus Middlefield closed but if he wins and meaning he takes the outside leverage and wins it's going to be a great hit so nice job on that route nice job getting the leverage better throw from M Jones right on him boom that's beautiful you can see that thing play out if it wasn't there you got the backside in down here to the bottom so beautiful throw everything except getting in the end zone right there I love it maybe you could say hey get lined up at the top of the drop you know he eventually gets there so his feet there instead of there for me I would want that but he eventually gets there this base is outstanding when he's calm comfortable and looks like this I feel like that's when he's at his best when he's panicky when he's a little hot it's tough next one here second and 10 this is a nice job for MC Jones here so right here the running back is going to blow his pass Pro whoop M Jones makes him right though I think you know any sort of like added layer of being able to create or extend when things go wrong is a great trait for a quarterback I don't associate it as a strength for ma Jones but right here he makes it work so the running back takes an L but he's rewarded with a completion in a nice little chunk now the other part about this is even if we were to play this out so even if let's pretend like the running back comes over here and blunts this pressure over here down the field here this spacing stinks so I'm I'm calling this a deep flag or pylon and this is probably supposed to be a sale so I'll draw it up what it's supposed to be probably we come in here in and you kind of have this spacing like this what happens in reality here is he tries to go over the corner and now we're just too close to each other so there's not going to be anything there regardless so nice job that it works out like this I love the fact that M Jones made this thing work found a way didn't make a bad play a disaster instead found a way to make a bad play a good play which is a awesome trait to having a quarterback but looking down the field you can see the spacing right like that's not it guys so running back whiffs it's right in our vision he doesn't panic right we've seen him kind of get a little happy back there maybe bail a little early this time he sees the L right in front of him and is able to make a play put it right on his face completion let's go next one here third and two now this plays out like a touchdown pass to the number one up top I'm guessing it comes back cuz on the stat sheet we only have one touchdown pass with the penalty flag up top this to me even though it's a touchdown I don't think it's a rep that Mt Jones necessarily looks great on I think power pass here we're trying to get the ball to 81 the fullback in the flat I think it's probably there now I will also say that this play in my opinion is most often run more as a goal line play as opposed to a short yardage play and how what I mean by this is well however you want to call this I call it power pass but it's then the only reason I call it power pass is supposed to it's because it's supposed to look like power so when we come out here you're going to Bluff and then we're getting into the flat now the offensive line is usually full Sliding Away and usually the ball goes right here one now normally this play is played with something else showing up in this area you know whether it's spot whether it's shallow coming across that's usually number two but in the goal line sometimes they'll run it where it's Bluff into the flat one and then we'll have like this Crosser going to the back pylon as a potential two and then we'll have kind of double crossers coming from the opposite side so it'll be here front pylon here back pylon now when you run it out on the field like this you know who's who in the zoo I can't tell you what the hell they're trying to read I would say if this was how it's normally read one to two I would say you come back over here and throw the shallow before you throw this so for me here just looking at the film this is open and this is open now it works out it's a touchdown it's a penalty so the football Karma gods are all over them but man this is one of those ones where it's third and two you're calling it for the flat right there just throw the flat once that corner gets any sort of depth up top he might not it might not be be there right there but you haven't even given it a hitch yet get to the top of your draw and throw it to the fullback up top and then if you're going to flip back around throw it to the shallow but obviously it works out here maybe they're maybe they're calling it for this and I'm totally off my rocker and it's designed perfectly and good for MC Jones if that's the case I just doubt it okay so I'd rather see him play the play that it's that's designed to be played if it's there make the easy plays look easy as opposed to uh now again it works out but you can see the shallow if you don't like the fullback Let's Pretend the fullback is not open he's not originally but then he gets open later you come back and usually it's the shallow see the shallow happening first to me it's just more open and the timing of it is usually that's would be before the over now doesn't take away from the throw and the Finish that's great but whe next one third and seven thought this was a nice job by MC Jones he's going to end up finding the slot up top on what I'm going to call like an inside hook or sticks route it looks like he's got shock down here to the bottom doesn't like it goes to the backside hook drills it for a first down I might not love the fact that he's bouncing backwards as he's doing this but he makes it work right here looks powerful again to the right feel like he's got a little bit more juice a little bit more comfortable driving the ball so no to the left back across puts it on him now this is an interesting combination of routes as well I kind of like it so shock to me is locked hitch by the number one down here inside fade by the number two and then usually a stick route here this might even be more like juky or City kind of over the ball and then on the backside here it looks like they're running inside Hank so locked hitch or smoke out here so I I like this play as far as just like this looks like a great closed man side this looks like a nice Zone side you got options you got multiple runaways potentially if you love this kind of inverted Hank look up top pairing it with inside fade is pretty sweet it kind of looks like hos Juke as well to the bottom down here you know it presents essentially to the defense up until this point as hos Juke they don't know if you're running seam inside fade hook so a cool little variation off a presentation that a defense sees a lot is always a cool scheme thing for me gives the quarterback multiple options and answers I love he goes left to right and again watch his footwork here kick back he makes it work gets through the read throws it right on him nice third down conversion so like like the scheme like the execution don't necessarily love the technique to get there but he makes it work and again I think it looks more powerful than than he normally looks no you know generate a little force from that back hip all his cleats in the ground right there driving that thing even though he's not going right to the Target puts it right on his throat outstanding last one here bit of a bummer third and two I love me some 13 Personnel super Wing big play action shot this a little bit unfortunate for me I I don't love this play call at this position in the field and I'll talk about why but everybody runs this postc cross post deep cross post Low cross however you want to describe it you got multiple tight ends there you got great pass protection I think it's a decent ball it's a nice play from 41 the reason that I dislike it this tight so what are we at the 22 so if we're going to come out here and run what I'm calling post with this deep cross right everybody runs this play the reason I justlike it this tight is because they have a post safety here but he's not necessarily worried you're going to throw an over-the toop post from the 20 right like you would have to throw this high back five and you just never see that ball thrown so he's able to essentially just hang right here in the middle of the field he's looking right at M Jones and he feels this thing and makes a nice Play Over the Top gets his hand on the and on the backside they've got this invert replace to go play the post as well from the corner and again I feel like I say this every other video but these safeties and DB types are just getting so much better at passing off these types of routes which used to be big hits I think right here they do themselves no favors by because he's not threatened by a post over the top when his feet are almost in the end zone so again watch this safety right here drive on this Crosser I don't think there's anything Matt Jones could do here I don't think there's a great option you're not going to throw the post you know out the backline and again it doesn't help that 18 is jogging down here to the bottom in my opinion right there you got to run homie you got to run full speed now I will say I've been around some teams that will run their posts when you get down inside say the threshold is like the 30 or the 25 or even the 20 where now instead of running traditionally if you're going to run to the goal post and you have landmarks like near hash near post now all of a sudden that becomes a back pylon throw and if that becomes a back pylon throw with kind of a Crosser to the front pylon now this plays better but what this guy's doing here as far as coming up and running a traditional post and then just chilling right here it's not for me so there are little kind of details I think you can add to this play to make it a little bit better if you're going to call it down here from the high red but right here that safety is not threatened he's just sitting on that Crosser goes and makes a play so hard for me to put anything on M Jones it's a great opportunity potentially for a touchdown pass third and two aggressive 13 Personnel RI in a big play action shot but it's never there and he makes a nice play so that is a w ma Jones preseason week three a bit of a ma jonesan performance all over the place there were some nice throws I thought the touchdown throw the back shoulder the corner throw with anticipation outstanding I thought there were some nice accurate throws to his right more than to his left but when you turn on the film and you see the uncomfortable way that he's playing from within the pocket consistently whether it's leaving early whether it's you know not settling our feet whether it's being uncomfortable on hot throws whether it's skunk and checkdowns just too inconsistent to think that that type of performance is ever going to thrive consistently on Sundays I hope I'm wrong I hope he you know has a great opportunity to go out there and play whenever that opportunity comes next but man you would love to see him just kind of come into his own as far as comfort within the pocket to play at his best level of football because I think his he he's got flashes of really really good you just need to couple that with a little bit more consistency a little bit more pocket comfort and then that'll give him the best opportunity to thrive when next opportunity comes regardless thank you so much for hanging to the end I will see you next time have a good one