How Bill Belichick Explained Patriots’ Notable Change In QB Reps

FOXBORO, Mass. — Bill O’Brien’s revelation Monday that Bailey Zappe and Will Grier both “rotated in” with the top offense during last week’s practice seemed like a notable shift in the Patriots’ quarterback strategy.

But Bill Belichick’s subsequent explanation made it sound more like a bye-week one-off.

Asked specifically about Grier, whom Belichick previously said almost exclusively works with the scout team, the head coach explained that New England eliminated all scout-team work during its lone bye-week practice, letting all players on both sides of the ball run the Patriots’ own plays.

“Well, last week we had an opportunity to kind of give the guys that didn’t play as much an opportunity to run more of our stuff,” Belichick said in his Tuesday morning news conference. “Less stuff off cards and scout-team things. That was pretty much true for everybody across the board.”

The scout team typically runs the upcoming opponent’s offense or defense to prepare the starters for their next game. The Patriots evidently opted to wait until after the bye to begin practicing against the New York Giants’ looks.

“We didn’t work on any scout-team plays,” Belichick continued. “We just ran our plays, so everybody got to run what we ran. We had some guys who were out there; some guys weren’t out there. A lot of the guys that have played a lot didn’t practice as much.”

It’s unclear how the Patriots plan to divvy up quarterback reps ahead of this Sunday’s game against the Giants at MetLife Stadium. O’Brien seemed to indicate Monday that two players — likely incumbent starter Mac Jones and top backup Zappe — will compete for the starting job.

Belichick would not reveal any of his plans for the position Tuesday, saying only that he wants Jones, Zappe, Grier and practice squadder Malik Cunningham all to be “ready to go.”