At the end of the Mac Jones era, opponents could reliably bank on three things when preparing for the Patriots.

Jones would respond poorly to pressure.

His receivers wouldn’t break free often enough from man coverage to hurt them.

And even if those receivers did spring free, their defense wouldn’t get beat deep. Because since Oct. 8, Jones had completed one deep ball, meaning in every midseason Patriots game, there might as well have been a brick wall 20 yards downfield that ran parallel to the line of scrimmage, boxing play in.

Well, Bailey Zappe has knocked that wall down.

In four starts, Zappe has unlocked a deep passing game that generated the explosive plays which powered all four Patriots scoring drives Sunday. The Pats’ once steady-eddy, speed-limit-abiding, on-schedule attack disappeared in Denver and has slowly been fading to black. Not that they’re world-beaters now, but this is a different offense.

With Zappe, the Patriots have posted three of their five lowest success rates (a measure of how often an offense stays ahead of the chains) at 32%, 33% and 34%. Despite that, they upset the Steelers in Pittsburgh and beat the Broncos in Denver, while scoring more than 20 points for just the second and third time all season.

How exactly?

The power of the explosive play.

In Zappe’s starts, the Pats offense has produced three of its five highest explosive play rates this season. Zappe has had help, of course; starting with some favorable field position and DeVante Parker, who secured contested catches longer than 20 yards on both of the Patriots’ final scoring drives, including the game-winner.

Underneath all five fireworks Sunday, Zappe continued to navigate pockets well under pressure. Save for his game-opening strip sack, he also protected the ball. Jones’ weaknesses have become Zappe’s strengths and fundamentally shifted an offense that had begun to limit itself and has now opened a new playbook of possibility.

Here’s what else the film revealed about Sunday’s win:

Accurate throw percentage: 87.1%

Under pressure: 13-of-16 for for 115 yards, TD, 2 sacks

Against the blitz: 10-of-13 for 71 yards, 2 sacks

Behind the line: 9-of-9 for 39 yards, TD

0-9 yards downfield: 10-of-14 for 60 yards

10-19 yards downfield: 1-of-3 for 20 yards

20+ yards downfield: 5-of-5 for 137 yards, TD

Notes: His best game as a pro. No doubt about it.

Zappe posted the highest accurate throw rate of his career, attacking the short and deep areas of the field, finding openings versus man and zone. We’ve hit on Zappe’s pocket presence, play under pressure and downfield aggression in recent weeks, so let’s move to an overlooked part of his game: the mental side.

Denver runs a blitz-happy, spin-the-dial defense under new coordinator Vance Joseph. Between the unending waves of pressure and variety of coverages, Zappe had plenty to sort through before and after each snap.

He handled it all well, occasionally checking to audibles and new route combinations when available, and not forcing a single pass that might’ve been intercepted. This was, considering the lack of run game and talent around him, one of the better quarterbacked games of the post-Tom Brady era.

The best player on the field. Full stop. Barmore was a beast.

Zappe did a little bit of everything. Best of all, he kept his cool in the big moment and in the face of Denver’s unrelenting blitz.

Parker’s explosive plays powered two scoring drives, including the game-winner. This is the receiver many expected to see coming out of training camp.

Three penalties, two pressures allowed. Rough day at the office for the rookie.

Bentley missed multiple tackles and was in coverage on the 2-point play that allowed Denver to tie the game late.

Hats off to Chad Ryland for the mental toughness it took to drill a game-winning 56-yarder after two misses, but taking in the entire picture, this was a bad night. The Pats allowed a 50-yard punt return, cost themselves 19 yards of field position on a fourth-quarter penalty by core special teamer Chris Board ahead of a potential game-winning drive for Denver and had the aforementioned misses.

Statistics for passing depth, broken tackles and missed tackles courtesy of Pro Football Focus.

*Explosive plays are defined as runs of 12-plus yards and passes of 20-plus yards. Explosive play rate is one of the most strongly correlated metrics with wins and losses.

**Success rate is an efficiency metric measuring how often an offense stays on schedule. A play is successful when it gains at least 40% of yards-to-go on first down, 60% of yards-to-go on second down and 100% of yards-to-go on third or fourth down.

***11 personnel = one running back, one tight end; 12 personnel = one running back, two tight ends; 13 personnel = one running back, three tight ends; 21 = two halfbacks, one tight end.

****Base defense = four defensive backs; nickel defense = five defensive backs; dime defense = six defensive backs; goal-line defense = three defensive backs; dollar defense = seven defensive backs.