Bailey Zappe Blew Prime Opportunity Vs. Chiefs — And He Knew It

FOXBORO, Mass. -- Last week, Patriots linebacker Mack Wilson explained how players stay motivated during a lost season like New England's.

"You don't want to put bad tape out there regardless of what your record is," Wilson said. "You're always playing for something. Not only are you playing for the Patriots, but there’s obviously 31 other teams watching to see how you respond when things aren't going well."

The veteran defender was talking specifically about the Patriots' 15 impending free agents, of which he is one. But his words also applied to quarterback Bailey Zappe.

The Patriots decided in Week 13 to officially bench Mac Jones and hand the keys to the offense to his second-year backup. The playoffs were a pipe dream by that point, but continuing to play the irreversibly rattled, turnover-prone Jones no longer was a viable option. Making the move also gave New England a chance to more accurately evaluate Zappe -- and Zappe, who was cut out of training camp, an opportunity to prove his worth as an NFL starter.

Three weeks in, the 2022 fourth-round draft pick has not looked deserving of a No. 1 job.

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Zappe showed flashes in all three of his starts this season and looked great in the first half of the last two, going a combined 31-for-40 for 337 yards and four touchdowns with no turnovers against the Steelers and Chiefs. But he has yet to deliver a complete performance, with New England's offense stagnating after halftime against Pittsburgh and Kansas City.

More troubling were his lapses in ball security. Zappe threw a third-quarter interception in his own territory in each of the last two games, gifting the Steelers and Chiefs possession at New England's 16- and 7-yard lines, respectively. The Patriots forced a turnover on downs on Pittsburgh's ensuing drive but couldn't halt Patrick Mahomes.

KC scored two plays later to take a commanding 14-point lead. The Patriots, who'd led late in the first half, never threatened again as the Chiefs cruised to a 27-17 win at Gillette Stadium, dropping New England to 3-11 on the season.

A visibly dejected Zappe mentioned his ugly turnover -- which occurred on the Patriots' first second-half snap -- several times during his postgame news conference. He effectively maneuvered around a Chiefs pass rusher on the play but then fired a pass straight to linebacker Willie Gay, who easily picked it off.

"Just simply not good enough," Zappe said. "Started out hot in the first half again, like we did the previous week. Came in here, made adjustments, understood what we wanted to attack. Went out in the second half, threw an interception on the first play of the second half, which is terrible on my part.

"You take away that, you take away seven points, it's a whole different game. I mean, they got the ball on whatever yard line it was, and two plays later they scored. So, I mean, that's on me. You take away that play, it's a different game."

A penchant for back-breaking turnovers was Jones' biggest issue this season. It's the main reason Zappe now is getting a chance to play. But he's struggling in that area, too. Zappe threw an interception in four of his last five appearances, dating back to his late-game entrance in Germany on Nov. 12.

Three of those picks came in Patriots territory. The one to Gay was his most damaging yet.

"That's on me," Zappe said. "I was able to make a guy miss. I just need to throw it out of bounds. It's first down. You throw the ball out of bounds, second down and 10, who knows what happens on that drive? We were able to move the ball all day up to that point. I've just got to be smarter. I've got to be better. That's on me."

PICKED IT 🎯 pic.twitter.com/NIRJ8RXwzd

— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) December 17, 2023

The Patriots weren't able to generate much of anything offensively after the interception. They managed just three total first downs across their eight second-half possessions, and their lone touchdown after halftime came off a short field thanks to a Jahlani Tavai interception.

Zappe took two sacks that stalled third-quarter drives. He blamed himself for one, saying he didn't set his protection correctly, which allowed Jalen Watson to come in untouched on a cornerback blitz. The other was a strip-sack, with left tackle Conor McDermott recovering the fumble.

"They adjusted. We adjusted. I just didn't execute our adjustments," said Zappe, who also had multiple passes batted down at the line. "That was the difference. So I've just got to get better."

Head coach Bill Belichick didn't have much to say about Zappe's performance postgame or Monday morning.

"Just offensively, there's some things that we could have done better," Belichick said in his day-after video conference.

The Patriots were severely shorthanded by the end of Sunday's game, with Trent Brown, Rhamondre Stevenson, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Cole Strange, Hunter Henry and McDermott all sidelined with injuries. When the fourth quarter started, they had a backup at left guard (Atonio Mafi) and a third-stringer at left tackle (Vederian Lowe). Their pass protection understandably suffered.

But Zappe's blocking wasn't to blame for his game-changing interception. That was his own error, from which the Patriots never recovered.

New England doesn't have any real reason to hand the starting job back to Jones with three games left. Zappe should still be the man moving forward. Maybe he'll be able to deliver a more consistent outing this Sunday night against a bad Denver Broncos pass defense.

Until he does, it's hard to view the confident 24-year-old as anything more than an NFL backup.