Bailey Zappe Planning Notable Change After Replacing Mac Jones Again

FOXBORO, Mass. — When Bailey Zappe subbed in for an injured Mac Jones last season, he steered the Patriots to back-to-back victories and won over legions of New England fans.

This season, Zappe Fever hasn’t been so hot.

Zappe saw garbage-time action in each of the last two games — blowout losses to the Cowboys and Saints — and did not impress in either. The 2022 fourth-round draft pick went 4-for-9 across three series in Dallas, then completed just 3 of 9 passes for 22 yards in Sunday’s 34-0 home loss to New Orleans after replacing Jones at the start of the fourth quarter.

In his latest outing, Zappe misfired on multiple downfield passes to open Patriots receivers, failing to connect on shots to Hunter Henry and Kendrick Bourne. It continued a rough 2023 campaign for the popular backup, who was released during final cuts before ultimately returning to the Patriots’ roster.

Sunday’s misses had zero impact on the result, as the Patriots had no chance of staging a comeback by the time Zappe took over. Still, he lamented his incompletions after the game — and said he plans to change his practice routine moving forward to correct them.

“It’s up to me now to get with those guys and get extra reps,” Zappe said. “Like, with KB on the cross. Figuring out how he likes to run it so I can do a better job of putting the ball out there and letting him catch it and run with it after.

“It’s all my fault. I’ve got to get better. I’ve got to make the throw. Maybe that comes down to getting those guys after practice or before practice this week.”

The Patriots stuck with Jones after his miserable three-turnover performance against the Cowboys, and head coach Bill Belichick seemed to indicate they aren’t planning to change QBs ahead of next week’s matchup with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Zappe, though, reportedly saw an increase in practice reps this past week, and Jones’ grip on the starting job will continue to loosen if his ball-security issues continue. He had a lost fumble and two interceptions — including his third pick-six of the season — on Sunday, though his second INT bounced off a receiver’s hands.

Asked why the Patriots’ offense, which hasn’t scored a touchdown in 10 quarters, is regressing, Zappe said he expects coaches to harp on ball security this week.

“We’ll get back and look at the film from this week, but ball security is something that we preach here 24/7,” he said. “That’s the No. 1 thing, so I think that is the biggest thing that, once we look back at the last five weeks, look back at this game and get back here (Monday), the coaches are going to talk about ball security.”

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Zappe wouldn’t confirm whether he did see additional first-team reps ahead of the Saints game and said he isn’t sure how the Patriots plan to split things between him and Jones this week.

“Y’all know as good as I do,” he said. “We’ll find out Wednesday.”

Either way, it sounds like Zappe will go out of his way to get work with the Patriots’ starting pass-catchers. With the way this season has spiraled, he’ll need to be ready to play at any time.