Hector Longo's Two-Minute Drill: Trending now ... 'Middle of the Pack Mac'

Sep. 19—At what point is it a trend?

That's the question New England Patriots' football fans have to be pondering, even in victory, today.

The passer rating numbers, save for a blip in the positive and one in the negative — 84.0, 74.2, 31.4, 128.1, 91.1, 75.8, 87.2 and 79.7 — are trending in a very uniform direction.

Mac Jones is what he is. and sub-100 ratings in today's NFL are pretty darn average.

Other than a showcase against a tanking group of 2021 Jacksonville Jaguars (the 128.1 rating, of course), it's been pedestrian, "Middle-of-the-Pack Mac."

Lost in the euphoria of the win, it's pretty easy to note that Jones' 21 of 35 for 252 yards with a TD and a pick was fraught with mistakes.

This is 2022. The real teams have big-time QBs with big-time options to throw to and the ability to light up the scoreboard.

New England, facing a Dolphins defense that allowed 38 points to Baltimore Sunday and then a Steelers defense that played without the best defender in the game, TJ Watt, has totaled 24 points.

Jones is at the center of this offensive mess. It's not totally on him. His offensive coordinator, Matt Patricia, deserves plenty of the blame, but Mac has to be better, if the Patriots would like to escape the land of the Jets, Lions and Panthers.

"We just went out there and executed the best we could," said Jones of the offense's less-than-effective day.

Difference Maker

Amazing to see Gunner Olszewski hand the Patriots the football and the game, all in one stupid play.

Olszewski saw Jake Bailey's punt — literally — clang off his facemask for a devastating third-quarter muff, which rookie Brendan Schooler pounced on for the Patriots.

Three plays later, Damien Harris pounded in for the TD and a two-score lead at 17-6, a hole from which Mitch Trubisky had no shot of rallying back.

Thanks Gunner!

Stupid begets stupid

In this massive sea of mediocrity, we give you the final sequence of the game.

The Patriots are looking to kill the remainder of the clock, nursing their three-point lead.

On second and 12 from the Pittsburgh 29, Damien Harris breaks into the clear, but instead of lowering his shoulder for the game-clinching first down, he slides short of the marker by three yards to avoid falling out of the bounds and stopping the clock.

It could have been disastrous. He overthought it, made a dumb mistake and gave the Steelers life.

Thankfully on this day, Pittsburgh was one notch dumber.

On 3rd and 3, with the game hanging in the balance, Pittsburgh came out in a base, vanilla defensive look. The Steelers do what they do. and Harris plowed through for the easy 5-yard gain to ice it.

Simple question, Steelers. What is Minkah Fitzpatrick doing 20 yards off the ball? Why even bother putting him on the field in that case?

Sometimes, you just wonder what coaches are thinking out there.

Everybody up playing run Steelers. Not single-high safety. Who cares? Beg the Patriots to throw it.

So, Damien. You're off the hook. But do better next time.

No whining allowed

Live by the lack of a pass interference call, and die by the lack of a pass interference call.

A week ago, the fans were livid when Xavien Howard was not flagged for Velcro-ing himself to DeVante Parker in the end zone and forcing an interception.

There was outrage everywhere from Andover to Augusta.

So yesterday, when Matt Judon never looked for the ball and shoved Najee Harris with the ball in the air on a key third-down play — again without a flag — well, you can imagine the reaction.

Yep, silence.

You could hear a pin drop on Patriots Twitter.

The moral of the story here ... It all evens out in the end.

You probably got jobbed a little in Miami. You probably stole one in Pittsburgh.

Odds and ends

Can I just digress for one second on how stupid the rule is that if you drop a punt from the field of play into the end zone, then pick it up in the end zone and get tackled in the end zone, it's a touchback?

In this case Sunday, the Steelers were wrong to tackle Myles Bryant in the end zone. They should have let him come out to the 1, then tackle him. Instead, they tackle him in the end zone and give the Patriots the ball at the 20.

Dumb rule. ...

The loss of safety Kyle Dugger to a knee injury early is a situation to eye. His absence gave Bryant a ton of defensive snaps, which was not a good thing. ...

Interesting coaching choice by Mike Tomlin in the first half. There was a holding call on Isaiah Wynn on 3rd-and-16. Jakobi Meyers made a 14-yard catch on the play.

Decline the penalty and it's 4th-and-2. Accept, which Tomlin chose, and it's 3rd-and-26 but with a chance to move the chains. Mac Jones, with a second chance, hit Meyers for 24, causing a giant sigh of relief for Tomlin.

Either way, it ended up 4th-and-2 with a Pats' punt. ...

Reliable Nick Folk missed a 52-yard field goal attempt, just something to stash in the notebook. ...

Finally, what is up with DeVante Parker? The ex-Dolphin delivered his second straight clunker at receiver — zero catches on two targets.