How much credit does Mac Jones deserve for Patriots’ streak? A lot, actually. – Boston.com

The New England Patriots might be just the second seed in the AFC after the Baltimore Ravens held onto the top spot with a victory Sunday night, but make no mistake: the best team in football right now plays in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

The Patriots’ 36-13 whupping of the Tennessee Titans on Sunday was yet another masterclass of complementary football, from the four turnovers forced by the defense to the resilient rushing attack that closed out the game after a slow start.

But New England’s Week 12 win also signified something we haven’t seen much of during this stretch of dominance: an opposing team forced the Patriots to play through rookie quarterback Mac Jones.

The opinions about Jones’s response to that pressure are interestingly mixed. On one hand, his raw numbers (310 yards, 2 TDs, 123.2 rating) saw him put up arguably the second-best game he’s played all season.

But Pro Football Focus, which looks at player’s processes as well as results, gave Jones his worst overall grade of 2021 (51.9). A couple of missed connections, including a would-be touchdown to Hunter Henry, a near-interception, and lack of impressive throws likely had something to do with that.

Still, the Patriots won the game, and Jones’s captaincy of the offense led to six scoring drives against a very good defense.

Games like that raise an interesting question: how responsible is Jones for the Patriots’ impressive winning streak?

The obvious answer: he’s clearly not the reason New England has won six straight. That honor belongs to a defense that has been undeniably brilliant over the last month-plus and is tied for second in the league with Buffalo Bills in takeaways (25).

Plus, the Titans game notwithstanding, the Patriots have dominated teams on the ground, topping 130 yards as a team five times in this six-game span.

However, let’s not pretend Jones has been a mere passenger.

Since the Patriots kicked off their winning streak in Week 7 by hanging a 50-spot on the New York Jets, Jones has actually been the best quarterback in the NFL based on RBSDM.com’s composite score of estimated points added per play and completion percentage over expected.

Though the rookie passer ranks just 24th in air yards per attempt (7.6), he makes up for that …….

Source: https://www.boston.com/sports/analysis/2021/11/29/mac-jones-credit-patriots-streak-nfl/