Passing by Mac Jones, Patriots offense was historically bad against Raiders

Coming into Sundays game, it looked like an ideal opportunity for the Patriots passing offense to gain a little traction against a Raiders team that had been dismal defensively against the pass.

Just three weeks before, Mac Jones had been 28 for 39 for 382 yards against a similarly struggling Minnesota Vikings pass defense. Enter your email address here to receive MassLive’s Patriots newsletter every Monday and Friday.
      

Instead, Jones and New England delivered one of the worst passing games of the year by any offense, especially given the opponent and ideal game conditions. Jones completed 13 of 31 passes (41.9 percent) for 112 yards in the 30-24 loss, a low point in his year of regression.

We just have to do a better job. Weve thrown the ball well. In other games our completion percentage has been different than that, Bill Belichick said Monday morning. Thats not the standard, but just in general, we just have to do a better job.

Just how bad was it? The Raiders came into the game allowing 254.5 passing yards per game, which ranked 29th in the NFL. Opposing quarterbacks had completed 69.7 percent of their passes.

In 13 games before Sunday, the previous low output against the Raiders was 222 passing yards by Indianapolis Matt Ryan. Jones averaged a meager 3.6 yards per pass attempted. In fact, if Jones doubled his yardage total to 224, it still would have been below 12 other single-game totals by quarterbacks this year vs. Vegas.

The 112 yards were the 15th fewest by a team in 2022. Most of the totals below it came with a backup quarterback. Jones 18 incomplete passes were far more than anyone else who threw for 135 yards or fewer.

This was all in a climate-controlled, windless domed stadium.

Jones completion percentage of 41.9 was 26.8 points lower than the Raiders average allowed. Nobody else has been lower than 59.6 against Vegas.

Opponents scored touchdowns on 65% of their red zone opportunities against the Raiders coming in (29th in the NFL) and scored touchdowns on 100% of trips inside the 5. The Patriots got into the red zone once and, with help from a pass interference call, had first-and-goal from the 2. After a one-yard run, Jones threw two incomplete passes and New England settled for a field goal.

On third down, opponents converted 43.21% of the time. That was 26th in the league. The Patriots were 2-for-13 (15.4 percent) overall and completed two of seven passes on third down, only one of which resulted in a first down.

It was Jones worst completion percentage of his career and his fewest yards since throwing just 13 yards (on 3-for-6 passing) before Bailey Zappe relieved him against the Bears. The only other time hed amassed fewer passing yards in a game was in last years swirling snowstorm at Buffalo when he completed two of three passes for 19 yards in a run-dominated win over the Bills.