Is Mac Jones still the New England Patriots' no-doubt starting quarterback when healthy? Bill Belichick isn't saying.
After rookie fill-in Bailey Zappe delivered his second consecutive impressive performance in place of the injured Jones, Belichick declined to say whether the starting job will revert to Jones once he's medically ready to return from his high ankle sprain.
"We'll see how that process is," Belichick said in a video conference Monday, one day after the Patriots defeated the Cleveland Browns 38-15 at FirstEnergy Stadium. "Mac still wasn't able to play (Sunday). So we'll continue to evaluate him and see how he's doing physically."
Belichick offered a similar answer when asked the same question last Wednesday.
"We'll see where (Jones) is today," Belichick said then. "I don't know."
The coach's noncommittal comments have helped fuel a budding QB controversy in New England. So, too, has Zappe's play. The fourth-round draft pick posted a passer rating of 100-plus in each of his first NFL appearances, nearly pulling off an overtime upset in relief in Green Bay before quarterbacking the Patriots to back-to-back wins over the Detroit Lions and Browns.
Zappe's latest outing was his best yet. With Cleveland's typically shaky run defense able to largely limit Rhamondre Stevenson, Zappe threw the ball 34 times, completing 70.6% of his passes for 309 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions and one lost fumble.
"We're very fortunate to be in a situation where our third quarterback can play the way that he's playing now," special teams captain Matthew Slater said after the game. "He's really keeping us alive and keeping us competitive. Keep it up, young fella."
Jones traveled with the team to Cleveland and watched the game from the sideline, the first time he'd done so since his injury. He's shown steady improvement over the last three weeks, and with an eight-day gap between Sunday's win and next week's Monday night matchup with the Chicago Bears, there's a realistic chance he'll be healthy enough to play by then.
Belichick, though, is not revealing his QB plans. Whether that's for competitive advantage reasons or because he has not decided which signal-caller will start if both are fully healthy, his responses will do little to quell the "start Zappe" chatter.
