Are New England Patriots Setting Bailey Zappe Up to Fail?
Boston-based relief throwers are often granted less-than-polite welcomes in the New York City tri-state area. But what quarterback Bailey Zappe went through on Sunday afternoon in New Jersey was perhaps particularly harsh.
Forced to step in for incumbent starter Mac Jones for the fourth time this season, Zappe was the offensive overseer of the New England Patriots' latest no-show on the scoreboard, a 10-7 defeat at the hands of the equally woebegone New York Giants. Had Zappe emerged from the bullpen at Yankee Stadium rather than MetLife Stadium's sidelines, he would've been charged with the loss, as he was the last New England quarterback to take snaps before Randy Bullock booted what became the game-winning triple.
Sunday became Zappe's fourth appearance of the season, all in relief of the meandering Mac Jones. Zappe's final statline in East Rutherford (9-of-14, 54 yards, an interception that set up Bullock's winner) was Tom Brady-esque if only because Jones (12-of-21, 89 yards, 2 interceptions) set the bar deeper than New York's subway.
Beyond the family of Giants quarterback Tommy DeVito and his nearby alma mater Don Bosco Prep ... both of whom received innumerable mentions on the Fox broadcast on Sunday ... there were few, if any, winners emerging from Sunday's slog.
Zappe's case is particularly cursed: if he succeeds under center, he becomes a pariah for defying the concept of tanking that's keeping Patriots fans tuned into the final hours. If he fails, it becomes more likely that his next regular season snaps come in the Franken-league that the USFL and XFL are planning rather than the NFL.
The sense of hopelessness was only exacerbated by what transpired before the Patriots (2-9) hit the road: granted two weeks to decide who would take on the unenviable task of taking snaps in the rain against the Giants, New England apparently left the decision to the last minute. Throughout the week, neither Jones nor Zappe hinted at knowing their Sunday fate, even as Jones gave little, if any, reason for continued employment under New England center in a 10-6 loss to Indianapolis in Germany.
The culmination, a 10-7 loss capped off by Chad Ryland's podiatric misfire, continues a disturbing trend: the Patriots continue to fail their post-Tom Brady quarterbacks.
Zappe played the second half of Sunday's 10-7 loss to New York
Vincent Carchietta, USA TODAY SPORTS
Zappe oversaw the closing chapter of the Frankfurt-based tragedy: tasked with conjuring a game-winning drive after Jones failed to take advantage of a sterling defensive effort, he threw an interception that sealed the fate of defeat instead.
Combine that with two mop-up appearances in blowout losses to Dallas and New Orleans and Zappe has never been on the field when the Patriots have had a lead. He came close on Sunday, as he debuted in the second half with an 11-play, 60-yard trek (one partly helped by a New York boot out of bounds) that ended with Rhamondre Stevenson's equalizer. But Zappe has never had a lead to work with, or even a mere blank scoreboard.
That's not to say that Zappe is being boxed out of potential franchise quarterback duties. There was a two-week flirtation with the idea ... or perhaps pipe dream ... during last year's rookie run but it's clear that he has mostly worn out his welcome in Foxborough. Even Zappe himself admitted he had to perform better despite entering less-than-ideal scenarios.
But as the Patriots embark on these final hours, Zappe at least deserves 0-0, a fair shake at the free research and development that the last six weeks will become.
Again, that's unfortunately not a new phenomenon in the not-so-roaring 2020s and no doubt serves as an indictment on continued Bill Belichick supervision both on the sidelines and in the front office.
Year one without Brady was always going to be a challenge, but extended success for Cam Newton was impossible when his top targets were an undeveloped Jakobi Meyers and a soon-to-be-departed Julian Edelman. Meyers eventually made himself into a reliable playmaker and was Jones' primary collaborator over his first two seasons. Belichick and Co., however, let Meyers walk to Las Vegas without much of a fight and then tried to make him work with the ill-fitting JuJu Smith-Schuster as WR1 and a hodgepodge of projects and injured promise (Kendrick Bourne, Demario Douglas).
It's not like Zappe being withheld a starting opportunity or almost any other development in these final games will ultimately alter any major mountain of the Patriots' future. The phenomenon of quarterback negligence, however, is nonetheless troubling.
