The New England Patriots started their season 1-3 behind a rookie quarterback who missed open windows downfield, failed to find the end zone and took too many sacks. Now they’re 8-4 thanks to a rookie quarterback who has newfound confidence in his deep ball, a rising touchdown rate and … well, a lingering penchant for holding the ball too long in the pocket and taking too many sacks.
Mac Jones has been one of the primary drivers of the Patriots’ success, capitalizing on the good field position provided by a smothering defense en route to a 7-1 record and more than 33 points per game over the last eight weeks. New England has overtaken the Buffalo Bills for the top spot in the AFC East, suggesting last year’s losing record was merely a bump in the road rather than the new normal in Foxborough.
Jones, over that span, has thrown 12 touchdown passes against only four interceptions. His passer rating of 106.4 would be second-best among all starting QBs if he kept it up over the course of a full season. That hot streak came against some solid competition as well; four of the six defenses he faced rank in the top 12 in overall DVOA. He’s been so good, he’s earned praise from a legendary former Patriot QB.
That’s right, Drew Bledsoe:
"Hey youngster, nicely done."
An appearance from @DrewBledsoe, BB's postgame speech & more inside the locker room. pic.twitter.com/RAmND2nTnr
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) November 29, 2021
There’s more to his impressive rise than just stats and compliments from a famous vintner, of course. So I’ll try to put his eight-game stretch of playoff-caliber quarterback into context by going through all 12 of his touchdown passes over that span and, probably futilely, ranking them.
