Dan Orlovsky expressed a ton of concern about Mac Jones and the Patriots offense.
On Wednesday morning’s “Get Up,” the former NFL QB turned ESPN analyst took a look at other AFC teams and their quarterback/coordinator situation and described New England’s situation as the “most concerning thing” in the league currently.
“For me, this is probably the most concerning thing that I have in the whole NFL right now,” Orlovsky said before bringing up a graphic showing the OC histories for Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow and Josh Allen. “There are a lot of things that are incredibly important to a young quarterback, a second-year quarterback. One of, if not the most, important is to have that same voice in your ear on a consistent basis. That guy that you’re talking football to on a daily basis to help your development. A guy that can sit there and tell you what’s real and what’s not. A guy that can sit there and tell you how they’re seeing the game, what’s going on, the feel of that; the development, the growth — all that stuff.
“You look at some of the young quarterbacks that have really ascended in their second or third years — look at who they’ve had in their ears when it comes to the consistency. Patrick Mahomes: Eric Bieniemy and Mike Kafka. Lamar Jackson: Has Greg Roman but then James Urban, their quarterback coach. Joe Burrow’s got Brian Callahan, their offensive coordinator, and Zac Taylor. Josh Allen has had Ken Dorsey and Brian Daboll.
“Like, these guys have had these offensive-minded guys that’ve been around the NFL in that kind of role, and there’s been a consistency of that. That’s no mistake that those guys took those jumps. And now we have Mac Jones, and think about this: Mac Jones gets Matt Patricia, who is a, I guess, failed defensive mind in the NFL, and he gets Joe Judge who is a failed special teams mind. That is massive, a massive issue to me.”
As for Jones, things appear to be business as usual as he and his teammates continue getting ready for the upcoming season. Jones said he absorbed as much information as possible with the Patriots last season, so hopefully, he can apply what he learned in 2021 to 2022, because the Patriots are going to need it.
Jones threw for 3,801 yards with 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions as a rookie last season with the Patriots, who went 10-7 and lost in the AFC Wild Card Round of the NFL playoffs against the Buffalo Bills.
