How Patriots’ Pre-Chargers QB Plan Will Be ‘Same’ As Last Week

Last week, Bill Belichick offered variations of the line, “Told everybody to be ready to go,” whenever asked to reveal whom the Patriots would start at quarterback against the New York Giants.

We might be in store for more of the same this week.

Belichick offered no insight into his QB plan for this week when speaking to reporters Monday. And Bill O’Brien sang a similar tune during his Tuesday video call with reporters, though New England’s offensive coordinator indicated there could be another open competition for the starting job.

“I think it’ll be the same as last week relative to going into the week,” O’Brien said. “Let’s do a good job this week of installing a good game plan, teaching it to the players, and then the players going out there and executing it on the practice field.

“That’s really what it comes down to, and then performing it on game day. As an offense, coaching and playing-wise, we just haven’t done that. Haven’t been consistent enough and so we’re going to continue work hard on the practice field and see how it shakes out relative to game day.”

Mac Jones was horrible before getting benched at halftime in Sunday’s road loss to the Giants. Bailey Zappe took over for the second half and wasn’t much better despite putting the Patriots in position for a game-tying field goal — that was missed — in the closing seconds.

Jones probably shouldn’t get another opportunity to start. He looks like a broken player who needs a long breather and a fresh start elsewhere.

The problem is that Zappe might be worse, and there aren’t any realistic options on the free agent market. Ultimately, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Jones and Zappe both play Sunday when New England hosts the Los Angeles Chargers.