Zappe Hour: Patriots Rock Cleveland Behind Rookies, Defense
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Stay thirsty, New England Patriots fans.
Looks like Zappe Hour will be extended.
With no Mac Jones, no Damien Harris and no Nelson Agholar, the Pats' offense turned to backups and rookies Sunday in Cleveland. The suddenly dominant defense handled the rest.
With Zappe - making his second start in place of the injured Jones - throwing two touchdowns, fellow rookie Tyquan Thornton recording his first two NFL scores and the defense creating four takeaways, the Patriots waltzed to a surprisingly easy 38-15 victory over the Browns.
In Zappe's two starts, he has thrown for 497 yards - including 309 Sunday completing 24 of 34 passes - with three touchdowns and one interception. The last two weeks with the fourth-round rookie under center, the Patriots are 2-0 by a combined score of 67-15.
With the victory, coach Bill Belichick tied legendary George Halas for second place on the NFL all-time wins list with 324. Don Shula of the Miami Dolphins holds the record with 347.
But instead of legacies, the Patriots are now talking about salvaging a season that looked destitute three weeks ago after a lopsided loss to the Baltimore Ravens and the ankle injury to Jones. But with Sunday's win, New England is 3-3 with winnable upcoming games against the Chicago Bears, New York Jets (twice) and Indianapolis Colts.
While Zappe was again steady - if not spectacular - his job was made fairly simple by New England's suffocating defense. After shutting out the Detroit Lions 29-0 a week ago, the Pats limited NFL rushing leader Nick Chubb to only 56 yards.
The Patriots put the game away in the third quarter behind Zappe's scoring passes to Thornton (two yards) and tight end Hunter Henry (31). Those touchdowns - which pushed the lead to 24-9 - sandwiched an interception by cornerback Jalen Mills of a wobbly Jacoby Brissett pass caused by pressure by linebacker Ja'Whaun Bentley.
Rookies played a major role all over the field for New England, with Zappe and Thornton on offense off-set by cornerbacks Jack and Marcus Jones helping stifle Cleveland's passing game.
Dominant as they were, the Pats made enough mistakes to keep this one interesting much longer than it should have been.
New England committed a season-high 12 penalties, failed to recover an onside kick in the fourth quarter and saw kicker Nick Folk miss a 45-yard field goal wide right that could have put the game away with nine minutes remaining. The kick - which snapped Folk's NFL record of 64 consecutive makes inside 50 yards - would've given the Pats a 27-9 lead.
Instead, the Browns pulled within 24-15 on a touchdown catch by Amari Cooper, and then initially recovered an onside kick before replay overturned it and gave New England possession. But after a muffed punt and another fumble recovery by Patriots' defensive lineman Carl Davis, Thornton scored untouched on a 19-yard sweep and Rhamondre Stevenson scored up the middle for his second touchdown of the day to commence the blowout.
New England took control on its first possession the third quarter.
Zappe hit tight end Jonnu Smith for a catch-and-run of 53 yards, the team's biggest play of the season. After another toss to Henry down the Cleveland's 2, Zappe showed his uncanny poise in the pocket on a touchdown throw to Thornton.
With his intended target covered in the flat, Zappe calmly went through his progression and found Thornton darting across the end zone. The falling catch was the second-round draft pick's first in the NFL. On a 3rd-and-1 later in the quarter, Zappe executed a play-fake that froze Cleveland's defense and allowed him to find Henry for a walk-in touchdown.
The Patriots led 10-6 at halftime despite a sloppy first 30 minutes in which they allowed a strip-sack turnover and committed eight penalties, including one that negated a Henry touchdown catch.
New England was clunky on offense early, with several pre-snap penalties and the burning of a timeout to avoid a delay-of-game. The eight penalties are the most in a first half for the Pats since 2014.
And, of course, it wouldn't be Sunday without a gaffe from right tackle Isaiah Wynn. He continued his woeful season by getting beat around the edge by Browns' rusher Myles Garrett and allowing a hit on Zappe's arm that was ruled a fumble.
Somehow New England absorbed those miscues. Kyle Dugger's interception on the game's opening drive set up a Nick Folk field goal - that could have been a touchdown had Henry not stepped out of bounds in the end zone before making a catch. Stevenson provided the only first-half touchdown with a 31-yard burst up the middle on 3rd-and-10.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft got married over the weekend. It's not exactly Elton John singing at the wedding, but the Pats gave their boss a pretty decent gift: a 3-3 record in a season that is suddenly oozing youth and hope.
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