Mac Jones loves hearing people say the Patriots run a dink-and-dunk offense
Mac Jones hears the criticism — and he’s taking it as a compliment.
The New England Patriots offense has been mighty conservative, perhaps too conservative in the passing game, where Jones is rarely throwing the ball downfield — and has not been efficient when he’s doing it. That’s why critics are saying the Patriots run a dink-and-dunk offense. But Jones isn’t offended by that label.
“No, I think it’s great,” he said during an appearance on WEEI sports radio on Monday. “Just move the ball as best you can and some of the best quarterbacks do that really well. As long as you’re taking a profit, you can’t go broke, so just continue to do that, whatever the play call is. The line has been giving me plenty of time, so I don’t really pay attention to any of that stuff and people have said that about me for a long time. I am just going to continue to do what I do and continue to be a good teammate and continue to get the ball to our skill players.”
Jones has completed 70.4% of his passes for 7.2 yards per attempt. His average depth of target (7.8) is ranked 26th in the NFL among QBs that have taken 20% or more of their team’s dropbacks. That lack of depth on his throw is a surefire sign that the offense is, indeed, dink-and-dunk. The question is whether that style of offense can compete with the NFL’s best vertical-attacking passing offenses, including the Patriots’ upcoming opponent, the Los Angeles Chargers. Regardless of that uncertainty, Jones has issued strong confidence in his offense and his offensive coordinator.
“Josh [McDaniels] does a good job calling really good plays and my job is to execute them,” he said. “Obviously, sometimes it’s maybe a shorter pass, but sometimes it’s deeper. I just do what I am supposed to and there’s multiple guys open it seems like every play, so I just need to find the best one who can get the most yards. Whether it’s short or long, it doesn’t really matter. Definitely wish I would have connected on some of the longer ones that maybe I over-threw or whatever, but it’s all timing and gameday sometimes you hit them and sometimes you don’t, but in practice you focus on it and I think it’s part of the game.”
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