Bailey Zappe made some history during the New England Patriots’ win on Sunday over the Cleveland Browns. And in doing so the rookie from Western Kentucky has likely created a quarterback controversy.
The offense has been the source of news fodder for the Patriots for the entire offseason and the first few weeks of the regular season. It is unsurprising when a play-calling savant in Josh McDaniels departs after years of excellence. Yet, the Pats made a small story a monster by addressing the hole in their coaching staff in a very unorthodox way.
Instead of hiring a proven veteran coach for such an important role, Bill Belichick and the brain trust approached the issue with a coaching platoon strategy. For months that seemed to be disastrous. Throughout the summer came reports and rumors of the Patriots’ dysfunctional play on offense, and things didn’t improve when the season kicked off in September. Scoring seven points in the opener and just 17 against a bad Pittsburgh Steelers squad.
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However, just when it seemed like the O might be coming to life, starter Mac Jones went down with an ankle injury. Leaving the unit in the hands of journeyman Brian Hoyer. However, in a stroke of luck, Hoyer was knocked out of the team’s Week 4 loss and forced rookie Bailey Zappe into action unexpectedly.
Bailey Zappe has electrified New England Patriots’ offense
Despite the team’s best efforts to miraculously heal Jones in time for Week 5, Zappe had to take the field against the Detroit Lions, and he won. The fourth-round pick didn’t set the world on fire but he had a very solid performance in managing the offense as Rhamondre Stevenson ran rampant against the Lions. The expectations were low, so he probably just got a little lucky.
Then on Sunday, with close to two games of action under his belt, Zappe went off. Connecting on 24 of his 34 passes, for 309 yards and two touchdowns. Through his stellar performance in his second start, the 23-year-old also made NFL history. He is now the first rookie in the Super Bowl era to win his first two starts while also posting a passer rating of over 100 points. He actually had a rating over 100 in his limited action against the Packers in Week 4 as well.
Zappe is giving the Patriots reason to doubt Mac Jones
Over two and a half appearances, Zappe has amassed 596 yards through the air, four touchdowns, one interception, and a rating of 111.4. In comparison, over his first three appearances, Jones had 737 yards, two TDs, three interceptions, and a rating of 82.3. That is a pretty big difference outside of Jones having more yards — and that could simply boil down to the fact that he got more minutes in his first start.
- Bailey Zappe stats (2022) 3 games, 596 yards, 4 touchdowns, 1 interception, 111.4 rating
While Jones is the incumbent and helped lead the Pats to a 10-7 record and a trip to the playoffs in 2021, he has only been a starter for one season. There aren’t years of built-in loyalty the organization has to him. Now, they did invest a first-round pick in the former Alabama star, but Belichick is not your normal coach. He will do whatever it takes to win now, and later. This is the same man who pushed Tom Brady out when he still had Super Bowl-winning years left in him.
For his own sake, Jones should try and get back ASAP, because if Zappe goes on to zap more life into the Patriots’ offense in Week 7 and gets a win, Jones may not be guaranteed to have a starting job to come back to.