The New England Patriots’ season has been defined by inconsistency, so it shouldn’t have been all that surprising to see them rise from the dead and defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers on “Thursday Night Football.”
If we’re being real, though, there wasn’t anyone who saw that coming.
The Patriots are a bad football team. That much cannot be argued, but glimmers of competency shined through at different points in the season. They all seemed to come together Thursday, as Bailey Zappe led New England to a win at Acrisure Stadium in his second start of the season.
It was the type of win we’ve known New England was capable of, it just came about two months late.
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That’s what made the instant analysis of the game so infuriating, as questions immediately rose about why the Patriots hadn’t made the change from Mac Jones to Zappe sooner. That’s either the case of someone failing to understand what they watched in Patriots-Steelers, or being totally disingenuous. You pick.
Jones, for as bad as he was this season, was always going to have an extremely long leash. The Patriots not only made investments into him but still have a higher ceiling when he’s right. It just became clear that he wouldn’t ever get right again in New England. That’s why the switch was finally made, as the 25-year-old routinely displayed his newfound ineptitude at quarterback.
It’s amazing how quickly some can forget about his all-time bad interception against the Indianapolis Colts.
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It isn’t hard to admit that Zappe played really well in the first half of this game, either, as he tossed three touchdowns and was in complete control of the offense. He was able to get JuJu Smith-Schuster involved, relied on Ezekiel Elliott to great effect and had a presence in the pocket that hasn’t been seen in New England all season. It was a good performance, but the game didn’t end at halftime.
In the second half, Pittsburgh got wise to what New England was doing offensively and effectively shut it down. The Steelers didn’t allow a single point in the final 30 minutes of the game and intercepted Zappe to get themselves back into the game.
In the case of who should be starting for the Patriots, the answer is obviously Zappe. That doesn’t mean New England waited “too long” to make the change. There isn’t a QB on the roster that could turn this into a playoff team, so arguing about when decisions were made is pretty useless.
Featured image via Philip G. Pavely/USA TODAY Sports Images
