Mac Jones made it through three games of the 2022 season before his ankle was crushed beneath a Ravens lineman and severely sprained to a point that it might need surgery.
While losing a starting quarterback can be devastating to a team, that may not be the case here. Let's not forget what the Patriots are actually losing for what is most likely is a stay on the IR list for Jones.
Jones currently holds the worst passer rating in the NFL for all QB's with at least 50 passing attempts - 76.2.
That only leaves Justin Fields (45 attempts) and Trey Lance (31 attempts) with a rating worse than Jones.
So is it that devastating to the Patriots offense that they have lost their starting QB for a month or so? Only time will tell, but it can't be much worse than what Jones has accomplished to this point of the 2022 season.
Brian Hoyer is expected to get the starts in Jones' absence.
He has a career passer rating of 82.9, which is a bit behind Jones' career passer rating of 89.9, but a bit better than his 2022 rating.
The last time Hoyer threw more than 50 passes in a season was in 2019. That season for the Colts he had 65 attempts and a passer rating of 65.7.
In 2018 he was released by the Patriots before the regular season started after rookie Jarrett Stidham won the back-up QB job. He was then signed by the Colts two days later and went on to start six games for them and post a passer rating of 74.1.
He was then released the following March 21st and signed by the Patriots again four days later. He then flipped the script on Stidham, beating him out of the back-up QB spot behind Cam Newton.
He has never thrown more than 27 passes in a game for the Patriots in the regular season or playoffs.
Hoyer will be 37-years old in two weeks and has a lot more experience than Jones and has thrown more than double the amount of passes , albeit without a lot of success.
If there are Patriots fans that are thinking the season is circling the drain because Jones will be shelved for what could be a fairly long stretch, I think they need to reconsider. Jones wasn't bringing a lot to the table to this point of the 2022 season.
His five interceptions are tied for the league lead and his two TD passes thru three games leaves a lot to be desired from ones starting QB.
He is also ranked #31 in the league in interception %, throwing an INT on an average of once every 5.2 attempts, although that is still far better than Hoyer's awful career INT% of 2.1.
Again, we'll have to wait and see, but don't be surprised if the offense takes a step forward with Hoyer at the helm. It may take a game or two but he should have a good command of this offense and the experience to keep the team in position to win games.
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