Colts Captain Says ‘Everybody’ False-Started On Baily Zappe’s Fake Spike

The Patriots hoped to turn their season around when they made the trip to Frankfurt, Germany, but it was the Colts who gained hope after Sunday.

Indianapolis beat New England, 10-6, at Deutsche Bank Park. It was another poor performance from Mac Jones as offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien didn’t hold back on the sideline. The third-year quarterback was benched in favor of Bailey Zappe, which caught the Colts by surprise.

“Yes, to be honest. I mean, I had heard from the coaches that (No.) 4 is warming up,” linebacker Zaire Franklin told reporters, per team transcript. “I didn’t know if that was (No.) 10 being injured or they just decided they wanted to make a change. To be honest, we’ve had our fair share of quarterback struggles here. So when it comes to stuff like that, I wasn’t that surprised. But at the end of the day, I know what it feels like as player to not have played an entire game and then have to go in at the most important time in the game. So that’s just tough for him, tough situation, but thankfully he made a play that helped us.”

Bill Belichick didn’t offer much when it came to whether or not Jones would start against the New York Giants after the bye week. However, Zappe didn’t do a whole lot to earn a starting job when he threw an awful interception to ice the game.

“First of all, it was a false start, but I mean, it wasn’t a good fake,” Franklin said. “Then if you spike the ball, you’re not going to look at a receiver after that. You probably are just going to walk off. So after he faked it and was looking at a receiver, I’m like, oh, well, I’m thinking, first of all, false start. Then I’m like, oh, fake spike? Okay. Then went and saw he was looking at No. 2 vertical. Took the responsibility. Rodney (Thomas) had a play on the ball. Game over.”

Zappe’s pass off a fake spike went into triple coverage and showed why the second-year backup was expendable enough to be cut and open to waivers. Franklin didn’t call anyone out specifically when it came to who got off their stance first on the final play.

“Everybody was. Two of them moved early,” Franklin said. “I don’t know if he even gave a cadence. Everybody was doing their own thing, but it is what it is.”

The star linebacker also revealed after the game he was subjected to a random drug test following his 15-tackle outing.

Franklin’s words only served to add more insult to injury to a Patriots team still seeking answers amid a lost season.