Bailey Zappe quarterbacked the New England Patriots to a 29-0 win over the Detroit Lions last Sunday at Gillette Stadium, emerging victorious in his first NFL start.
As Zappe prepares to either start again this week against the Cleveland Browns or back up a returning Mac Jones, here are five observations after rewatching the fourth-round rookie’s impressive outing:
1. It’s unclear how much pre-snap autonomy the Patriots gave Zappe (17-for-21, 188 yards, one touchdown, one interception) in his first start, but he appeared to check New England into a more favorable look on the first play of his third series.
Zappe could be seen alerting (touching both hands to his helmet) while he surveyed the defense from under center. After a play-fake and a successful blitz pickup by running back Rhamondre Stevenson, he lofted a pass to a wide-open Jakobi Meyers for a 17-yard gain.
Meyers had aligned close to the formation and ran a shallow crosser while Nelson Agholor and Tyquan Thornton cleared out their defenders.
Zappe leaned heavily on Meyers in this game. The veteran wideout finished with seven catches on eight targets for 111 yards and a touchdown after missing the previous two games with a knee injury. Tight end Hunter Henry caught four passes for 54 yards. The rest of the Patriots’ wideouts combined for 8 yards on three receptions.
Play-action also worked wonders for Zappe. The Patriots utilized it on eight of his dropbacks, and he went 6-for-7 for 88 yards with one touchdown and one scramble, per Pro Football Focus, averaging 12.6 yards per attempt and posting a perfect 158.3 passer rating. New England should continue to prominently feature play-action passes even after Jones is healthy enough to return from his high ankle sprain.
2. Zappe had the good fortune of working behind an offensive line that kept him largely unbothered throughout the afternoon. Detroit’s only sack was wiped out by a defensive penalty, and PFF credited the Lions with just two pressures.
But on the rare instances when defenders did invade his orbit, Zappe showed the type of poise you want to see from a young quarterback.
When No. 2 overall pick Aiden Hutchinson shucked past Henry and had a clear shot at Zappe, the QB calmly sidestepped, moved to his right and scrambled for a 5-yard gain.
Later, when the pocket began to collapse behind him on a second-and-6 in Detroit territory, Zappe stepped up in the pocket and had open space in front of him. While moving toward the line, he turned his eyes to the right, found his checkdown and hit an open Henry in the flat with room to run. The All-22 film showed Thornton open on a vertical route down the left sideline, but Zappe took the easier throw and got a 17-yard gain out of it.
3. After he threw just one pass that traveled 20-plus yards downfield in his Week 4 relief appearance, the Patriots let Zappe sling it a bit more in his first starting opportunity. He attempted five deep passes against Detroit, with one yielding New England’s only offensive touchdown of the game: a 24-yard play-action hole shot to Meyers into a soft spot in the Lions’ Cover 2.
That was Zappe’s only deep completion in the game, but two others produced positive gains, as DeVante Parker picked up a pair of defensive pass interference penalties on vertical routes.
On his two deep incompletions, Zappe might have been better off settling for shorter throws. He had Parker and Meyers open on in-breaking routes when he attempted deep heaves to Meyers and Thornton, respectively, both of whom were well-covered.
How did Zappe’s deep passing stats (1-for-3, 24 yards, touchdown, two penalties) compare to Jones’ this season? Here’s how Jones fared in his three starts, with the Patriots clearly making pushing the ball downfield a point of emphasis:
Week 1: 2-for-6, 68 yards, interception, three penalties
Week 2: 2-for-5, 68 yards, touchdown, interception
Week 3: 6-for-9, 173 yards
Zappe and Brian Hoyer each attempted one deep pass in Week 4, completing both.
4. In evaluating Zappe’s performance, it must be noted how both inept and undermanned this Detroit defense was.
The Lions rank 30th in the NFL in Football Outsiders’ pass defense DVOA and 32nd in rush defense DVOA, and four of their defensive backs suffered injuries during this game. They also were without starting safety Tracy Walker, who landed on injured reserve two weeks earlier, and starting cornerback Amani Oruwariye, who was a surprise healthy scratch after a rough start to the season.
Zappe also was propped up by an excellent rushing attack, with Stevenson plowing his way to 161 yards on 25 carries, and a defense that repeatedly stonewalled Detroit’s top-ranked offense in gotta-have-it situations. The rookie played well, yes, but he did so under borderline ideal circumstances.
5. The biggest issue for the Patriots’ offense in this game was its ineffectiveness in the red zone (four trips, zero touchdowns). But most of that was not on Zappe.
New England ran 10 plays from at or inside Detriot’s 20-yard line, and Zappe threw downfield on just one of them. He tried to hit a crossing Henry on the final play of the Patriots’ opening drive, but his pass was slightly behind the tight end and broken up by linebacker Alex Anzalone.
Zappe’s other red-zone attempts were a swing pass to Damien Harris (1-yard gain), a screen to Stevenson (1-yard loss) and a doomed-from-the-start tunnel screen to Kendrick Bourne (1-yard gain). He also picked up 5 yards on a late read-option keeper.
With the game already well in hand at the time, the Patriots may have sprinkled that last play in just to give future opponents another wrinkle to prepare for.
