Personally, I’m still not ready to call this a quarterback controversy – but Bailey Zappe looked damn good again under center on Sunday for the Patriots.
New England went into Cleveland and beat the Browns 38-15 behind 309 passing yards and two touchdowns from the rookie QB, and moved themselves to 3-3 (.500) on the season.
“We just had a really good offensive day today,” Zappe said to the media following the win. “We’ll celebrate today, and then on to the Bears [next Monday].”
So let’s start there. With the Patriots having won their last two games with Bailey Zappe at the helm, you wouldn’t be wrong to ask who should play for New England next Monday night, when their quarterback room is presumably fully healthy. After all, per CBS Sports, there is only one rookie QB in the Super Bowl era to win his first two starts and post a 100+ passer rating in both – and his name is Bailey Zappe.
However, the answer is easy. Mac Jones should still be this team’s quarterback once he’s ready to go.
Frankly, it’s pretty simple to me. I don’t think it’s a tale of two QB’s here, it’s a tale of two playbooks. Mac Jones is a better quarterback than Bailey Zappe, but the New England play callers have made the offense far easier for Zappe to run. I wrote about this in my game takeaways:
2. Zappe looks comfortable in the offense, run it like this with Mac.
The Patriots have a really good offensive scheme. They just failed to use it earlier this season with Mac Jones.
The talks of a “new”, “streamlined” offense took over the Boston radio airwaves all Summer. It had its ups and downs through 2.5 games in 2022 – but it’s finally seemed to be put by the wayside.
This is probably due to Bailey Zappe needing to take over the QB room. Well, the rookie has been sensational running the run heavy, play action, quick read scheme – and I give him all the credit in the world for that. Heck, he threw for 300+ yards and two touchdowns in just his second NFL start.
Having said this: Mac Jones is better, and he’ll prove that once he’s back in action running an offensive playbook that actually works.
You may think the Patriots need to continue playing Zappe in order to continue winning. In reality, they need to continue calling the same offense they did for Zappe, with Mac Jones at the helm.
If they do this, and their defense continues to play lights out like they have of late, this Patriots team will make the postseason.
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