Mac Jones: Patriots need to find root of offensive struggles

The New England Patriots have arguably the worst offense in the NFL right now. They average a league-worst 11 points per game, are tied for the fewer touchdowns scored (6), average the sixth-fewer total yards per game (287.4), and their scoring totals have dropped every single week.

Bill Belichick has suffered two of the most lopsided losses of his career in back-to-back weeks, and they’ve scored a grand total of 3 points in the past two games. That’s simply unacceptable.

Needless to say, a lot of that has to fall on Mac Jones, but not all of that. Still, it seems like not even the starting quarterback knows what’s wrong with the offense, and that’s a major issue.

Jones Wants Patriots To Look Forward

Jones stated that the team needs to address the root cause of their struggles, but they may not have a lot of time to do that, as they’re 1-4 five weeks into the regular season:

“The biggest thing is trying to figure out the root cause to each of the issues,” Jones said on WEEI. “That’s playing better as a team, that’s playing better for me as the quarterback. We just didn’t have the answers to the test yesterday. You just gotta move forward in this league. That’s what it is. You can’t look back; you’ve got to move forward. I’m not happy with anything. Nobody is, and it starts with me as the quarterback.”

Jones has been pulled out and replaced by Bailey Zappe in consecutive weeks, but it doesn’t seem like he’s at risk of losing his job right now, or at least not to his current backup.

What About The Future?

The Patriots are facing a lot of questions about the future. Robert Kraft has already made it loud and clear that no one — not even Bill Belichick — will be safe if they don’t make the playoffs this season.

Belichick is still a handful of wins behind Don Shula for the all-time record, but Kraft won’t hesitate to pull the plug and force him to try and break the record somewhere else if they don’t right the ship soon. “Look, I’d like him to break Don Shula’s record,” Kraft said, per ProFootballTalk. “But I’m not looking for any our players to get great stats. We’re about winning.”

The clock is ticking in Foxboro, and no one knows what’s going on in Bill Belichick’s mind. Perhaps the wisest thing to do would be to just tank and hit the drawing board again next season, but that could cost him his job.

They could try and trade for another QB, but no one can thrive on that offense, behind that offensive line, and with a subpar set of skill players by his side. That’s not the only issue.

The Patriots were the ruling force in the league for the better part of two decades, and it’s easy to understand that they’re not used to these kinds of struggles. Patience is running out, and this is a short-memory league.

As unfair as it may seem, Belichick’s legacy has been put to the test every single week since Tom Brady left, and who was once considered the greatest coach of all time might not be able to hold on to that distinction for much longer.