Red has been missing in action for quite some time now.  Normally the season recap goes here, but it is hard to recap a season that you sat out.  However, a hurricane and a bout of COVID have convinced Red to get off of his duff and start embarrassing himself with NFL predictions yet again. 

But first, the Annual (sort of) version of Red’s NFL Deadman of the Year Award.  As readers may (or may not) remember, this award goes to the NFL player who contributed about as much to his team’s success as would have a Dead Man.

Drum Roll please.

Readers should first note, however,  that  injury does not factor in to the official Dead Man rankings.  Thus for example, as much as you might want Red to consider the utterly miserable season of – say – Aaron Rodgers – the fact that he finished the season with one pass attempt, no completions, no yardage and one sack would otherwise qualify him for consideration. But the fact that this was all due to injury puts A-Rodg out of contention.   See also, JK Dobbins,  Nick Chubb, Deshaun Watson,  Jack Conklin and others.

There were some worthy candidates.  Players like Michael Gallup (Cowboys), Dameon Pierce (Texans), Bryce Young (Panthers), Jerry Jeudy (Broncos) and Derek Carr (Saints) come to mind, but they all did something that barely contributed to the success of their team.  So we look elsewhere.

And where else to look but to the franchise that was in very recent memory the standard by which all others were judged.  That of course means the New England Patriots.  After leading the Pats to a 10-7 season in his rookie year and then falling off considerably in 2022, Quarterback Mac Jones was nothing short of dreadful last season.  He was benched in week 4 in a 38-3 loss to the Cowboys.  Given another chance in week 5 he was benched in a 34-0 loss to the mediocre Saints.  He would get yanked again in week 10 in a slightly more respectable 10-6 loss to the Colts, before his season finally ended a week 11 loss to the Giants (10-7) with redoubtable Bailey Zappe taking the helm.  Jones would not play in another game and was inactive for the season finale. The high point Mac’s season was a rather inexplicable 29-25 win against the Bills.  Overall, Jones lost 9 of his 11 starts, ended with 12 INTs and 10 TDs, had one 300 yard passing game (week 1) and passed for under 200 yards 5 times.  After week one, he had a meager 7 more TD tosses in the next 10 games.  On the bright side he only fumbled 3 times. How all of this added up to a 77.0 QB rating is something of a mystery to Red.  

CONGRATULATIONS (or condolences) – Mac Jones you are Red’s 2023 NFL Deadman of the Year.

P.S.  I hear that Jacksonville is lovely in the Fall.