Josh McDaniels: No concern that Mac Jones hit a…

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Quarterback Mac Jones played efficient and effective football through most of a seven-game winning streak that lifted the Patriots into first place in the AFC East, but the last two weeks have not been as sharp.

Jones has gone 40-of-77 for 444 yards, two touchdowns, and four interceptions in back-to-back losses that have knocked the Patriots back down behind the Bills with two weeks left in the regular season. The downturn in production led to a question for offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels about whether Jones is hitting the so-called rookie wall as the NFL season moves beyond the number of games he played in a year at Alabama.

“He’s doing fine,” McDaniels said, via Steve Hewitt of the Boston Herald. “No concern on that. Each rookie kind of handles that differently. There’s always a stretch during the course of the middle of the season that’s a little bit new to him, because when you count the preseason games, preseason work, starting in July, usually that happens somewhere towards the end of October, middle of November, somewhere in there. But he’s gotten through that. He understands what he needs to do. He does a great job with his regimen, takes care of his body, his preparation. He’s learned how to manage his time and what he needs to allocate it towards, and I think that’s a really important thing for a young player.”

It may not be a rookie wall, but teams have a longer book on Jones now than they did early in the season and the last couple of weeks have seen the Bills and Colts force him into the kind of mistakes he had been avoiding. The Patriots and Jones will have to make their own adjustments as they work to get back on track before the playoffs. Sunday’s game against the Jaguars should provide a good opportunity to work on those changes.