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The era of comparing Bill Belichick and Tom Brady is over. In its place, the era of comparisons between Tom Brady and Mac Jones has begun. Granted, this could be a brief era in which both quarterbacks are in the league at the same time. However, assuming Jones sticks around long-term, Brady and Jones will be compared for the next 15-20 years.
How do both quarterbacks compare in their first seasons? Which one is having the better season?
Comparing Tom Brady and Mac Jones
It would be unfair to compare rookie Mac Jones against Tom Brady's 20-plus years of experience. However, if one compares Jones' first season as a starter to Brady's, some conclusions can be drawn. If Jones is having a better rookie season than Brady's first season as a starter, a narrative could be brewing that Jones could, one day, be better than Tom Brady.
Since Mac Jones hasn't completed his first full season, one can only look at his first 11 games compared to Tom Brady's. In Mac Jones' first 11 games, the quarterback is 7-4 and has thrown for 14 touchdowns and eight interceptions. In his first three games, Jones threw for two touchdowns and three interceptions.
Since the end of Week 3, Jones has thrown for 12 touchdowns and five interceptions. The turnaround has been clear and obvious for the ex-quarterback from Alabama. Since the end of Week 3, Jones has transformed from looking like a nervous rookie to looking like an industry veteran.
After a 1-3 start, the Patriots are 7-4 with the entire AFC in front of them. If they keep winning, the top seed is not out of play.
For Tom Brady, his first season came at the same time that people were just discovering Halo for the first time. Twenty years later, both are still going strong. Eerily similar to Mac Jones, Brady started slow in his first three games in the NFL. By the end of his third game, Brady had no touchdowns or interceptions. However, like Jones, Brady figured it out after just as many starts.
In his next eight games, the quarterback threw for 16 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. The Patriots, 1-3 at the end of Week 4, went on to finish the season 11-4 with Brady as the starter. Brady's first start came in Week 2 after the Patriots lost in Week 1. Essentially, Mac Jones has an opportunity to finish the season with the same record Brady had.
Both quarterbacks have had very similar starts to their careers, but how do the two quarterbacks compare? Who is having the better season? Mac Jones is a rookie and didn't get the luxury of sitting for a year like Tom Brady. With that in mind as a tie-breaker, how do the quarterbacks compare?
Mac Jones has had roughly a 2.5 touchdown-interception ratio over the last eight games. Meanwhile, Brady had a 1.6 touchdown-interception ratio over his eight-game renaissance. By this metric, Jones is outperforming Brady in his rookie season compared to Brady's first season as a starter and second season overall.
Put simply, what Mac Jones is doing is impressive, and if this doesn't strike fear into the rest of the AFC East, who waited 20 years for Brady to leave, nothing does. To wait 20 years for Brady to leave only to have him replaced by someone better is simply cruel and unusual punishment. Of course, it is early in Jones' career, and there are a lot of unknowns about the quarterback's future.
