There are sudden signs of positivity for the Patriots at quarterback.
The Patriots still might not have their quarterback of the future on their current roster, but Bailey Zappe certainly didn’t look out of place under center in Sunday’s 26-23 win over the Broncos.
Zappe’s 88.9 PFF grade was the highest mark for a Patriots quarterback since Mac Jones received an 89.9 grade two years ago in Week 17 of the 2021 season. Zappe was 25-of-33 for 256 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He was strip-sacked on the first Patriots offensive play of the game but that was his only turnover-worthy play. Additionally, he had three big-time throws and his adjusted completion percentage was 87.1%.
Overall, head coach Bill Belichick was impressed with Zappe’s play and showered him with praise Tuesday morning on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.”
“The quarterback position, the most important thing is ball security and protecting the team and not turning the ball over. That’s definitely gotten better for him,” Belichick said. “He’s made some key plays on third down and made a couple explosive plays on balls down the field to different receivers — to (DeVante) Parker, to Pharaoh (Brown) on the seam route, to (Jalen) Reagor. And then he had a couple plays like the throws to Zeke (Elliott), the one we missed out in the flat, and the other one that he got out there to him on time where he was able to break a few tackles and score a touchdown, a big third down extended play scramble that he hit Mike (Gesicki) on for a touchdown.”
It was easily Zappe’s best performance of the year, dating back to the preseason. He was 5-of-5 for 137 yards with a touchdown on deep passes with a 99.9 PFF grade.
Zappe is 2-2 as a starter this season with road wins over the Steelers and Broncos and losses at home to the Chargers and Chiefs. Mac Jones was 2-9 as a starter and was benched in four games before Zappe took over the role in Week 13.
“Continue to improve and again I thought he did a good job in Pittsburgh and Denver handling the crowd noise and the operation at the line of scrimmage pretty cleanly,” Belichick said. “We didn’t have very many mental problems there. I mean, there were a couple times when we got beat and that kind of thing. But as far as getting the plays called right, run right, blocked right, he did a good job on that. Denver had several different looks that we had to deal with. They had a couple different nickel looks and then their base defense and a couple of different dime looks. A team that we saw multiple different defensive looks out of, more than what most teams run. That was challenging, but I thought he did a good job of that. Moving in the right direction.”
Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien said during a video conference call on Tuesday that he’s seen Zappe getting more comfortable with the looks he’s seeing as he’s grown in experience. He also called Zappe “very poised” with pressure bearing down.
“He was able to — I always call it — negotiate the pocket, manipulate the pocket,” O’Brien said. “It’s not always perfect. He does a good job of that. I think (assistant QB coach) Evan Rothstein works a lot on that with him before stretch every single day. I think that really showed up in the game. Bailey did a really good job of keeping his eyes downfield.”
Zappe had an 80.4 PFF grade under pressure on Sunday night. That was the highest mark for a QB in Week 16.