Mac Jones Has A Very Rough Day In Patriots' First Padded Practice
BOSTON (CBS) -- Rookie quarterbacks in training camp are going to have more bad days than good days. And Tuesday was a bad one for Mac Jones.
In the first fully padded NFL practice of his career, Jones was not sharp.
Here's how the reporters in Foxboro saw Jones' performance on Tuesday:
Mac Jones fires his first interception of camp, an early Christmas gift to Ja'Whaun Bentley.
— Andrew Callahan (@_AndrewCallahan) August 3, 2021
Jones wanted Kendrick Bourne on a dig route in 11-on-11s, except Bourne was surrounded by ... three defenders.
Not a good start for Mac Jones today. Picked by Bentley then missed a wide open Jakobi Meyers in the middle of the field and threw incomplete. Still early. Still a rookie. #Patriots
— Evan Lazar (@ezlazar) August 3, 2021
Been a tough day so far for Mac Jones. On his last pass of the latest 11-on-11 period, he had Jakobi Meyers wide open over the middle, waving for the ball. Tried to force a sideline pass to Wilkerson instead that was broken up by Joejuan Williams.
— Zack Cox (@ZackCoxNESN) August 3, 2021
Mac Jones just threw his first interception of camp. First read was taken away, scanned left for Bourne on an intermediate in-cut, threw it directly to Bentley.
— Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) August 3, 2021
Yikes...Mac Jones just threw a really bad pick over the middle to Ja'Whaun Bentley. Was looking for Kendrick Bourne, but Bentley was standing right there in zone coverage. Barely had to move for it. #Patriots
— Khari Thompson (@kdthompson5) August 3, 2021
Cam Newton having a nice day as the pads come on for the first time. Accuracy not an issue. Plenty of zip. More good reps than Mac Jones and that's a departure from first days of camp with no pads on.
— Tom E. Curran (@tomecurran) August 3, 2021
Rough practice for Mac Jones continues. He nearly threw another interception on a throw over the middle. The pass hit Anfernee Jennings right in the hands, but the LB couldn't hold on for an INT. (11-on-11 drills)
— Henry Coffey McKenna (@McKennAnalysis) August 3, 2021
Anfernee Jennings should've had Mac Jones' second interception of the day but he dropped it, so he dropped down and did push ups. It's been a struggle for Mac today in full-team work.
— Mark Daniels (@MarkDanielsPJ) August 3, 2021
11v11s:
— Mark Daniels (@MarkDanielsPJ) August 3, 2021
Jones: 1/6, INT
Newton: 5/7
7v7s:
Newton: 6/10
Jones: 8/8
Cam multiple highlight throws today. He was clearly the better quarterback on the field. Mac struggled. This was the worst practice for the rookie that we've seen. Let's see how he responds tomorrow.
Mac probably had his worst practice of camp. Had him with two INTables, one that was actually INT'ed by Bentley and a missed read. Didn't throw it much after that. #Patriots
— Evan Lazar (@ezlazar) August 3, 2021
A long and fairly arduous practice today and the headline would be, for the first time, Mac Jones looked his age a bit. A lot of the work was running game but when throwing he had some that went to the wrong team and he appeared to draw the ire of McDaniels after rungame reps
— Tom E. Curran (@tomecurran) August 3, 2021
Cam Newton was 11 of 18 in competitive team drills. Highlighted by perfect TD throws to Nelson Agholor and Hunter Henry.
— Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) August 3, 2021
Mac Jones was 9 of 14 with his first INT of camp. But he was only 1 of 6 in 11-on-11s. Not as sharp as the past two practices.
Of course, a shaky day on the practice field is to be expected for any rookie quarterback, whether he's the No. 1 overall pick, the No. 15 overall pick, or the 200th overall pick.
Still, with this being the first taste of real football with pads, Jones will definitely be left feeling a bit frustrated by Tuesday's showing. He'll get a chance to bounce back on Wednesday morning.