Has Bailey Zappe sparked a quarterback controversy?
Zappe completed 17 of 21 passes for 188 yards and one touchdown on Sunday in New England’s 29–0 win over Detroit. In the wake of his efficient performance, Patriots coach Bill Belichick was asked whether or not the rookie might supplant second-year pro Mac Jones as the team’s starting quarterback.
“Yeah, I’m not going to get into a lot of hypotheticals on all the different things that might or might not happen and all that,” Belichick told WEEI Radio in Boston on Monday morning.
“That’s, to me, a waste of time. I’m not going to sit around here and dream up scenarios and all that. We’ll take things as they come and go from there. Obviously, Mac wasn’t active [Sunday], so it wasn’t any part of the decision [Sunday],” Belichick added.
While Belichick wouldn’t say one way or another whether Zappe might be in position to take the starting job from Jones, who is dealing with a high ankle sprain, Belichick did mention that he was impressed with the poise of his rookie quarterback.
“He does a good job of seeing the game and can come off and identify and articulate what he saw, what happened–and that’s usually right,” Belichick told the media on Sunday.
“What he saw is usually what I saw or maybe, when you look at the film, maybe there’s something that’s a little gray in there. His explanation is actually good. It was the way he saw it. Maybe he might not have done the right thing, but he saw the game.
“And that goes all the way back to preseason. He played a lot in preseason. I think those snaps were good for him. He learned a lot; we learned a lot. And I think there’s definitely some benefit to the playing time that he had in preseason in the games that he’s played the last two weeks,” Belichick added.
There is no indication yet as to whether Jones will be ready to suit up for the Patriots (2-3) next Sunday in Cleveland. Meantime, backup Brian Hoyer is recovering from a concussion suffered on Oct. 2 against the Packers. But at least until Jones or Hoyer is deemed healthy enough to play, New England will rely on Zappe to run the offense.
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