Can people stop crapping on Bailey Zappe?

On Friday's edition of Zolak & Bertrand, Joe Murray asked for Patriots fans to stop crapping on Bailey Zappe simply because Mac Jones is the clear QB1. This comes after weeks of Murray being hounded over his Zappe takes at the start of training camp and being one of the early victims of Zappe fever last season.

Joe Murray: Let's get this one out of the way. Okay. I went to camp one day. Had a chance to talk to Bailey Zappe. One day. Bailey Zappe looked damn good that day. Had a chance to talk to him after the practice and I said, do you feel like you're out there competing like it's a quarterback competition? And he goes, yes sir. That's where the whole QB competition came from. That's it. I have been cornered at times to be like... Joe you think Bailey Zappe's going to be the starter... ha ha ha. We know Mac Jones is going to be the starter. It's been set-up that way, and it would be, as you said, malpractice if he wasn't the starter.

Alex Barth: At this point, if Bailey Zappe's the starter week one, they have made a monstrous mistake.

Joe Murray: So, like, can we get over the... hey Joe, how's Bailey Zappe doing today? By the way, threw a touchdown last week, ran another. One on a third, one on a fourth, just stop crapping on Zappe. He's a pretty good backup.

Alex Barth: You can like both players.

Joe Murray: It's just that Mac is the starter, but you don't have to crap on Zappe.

Alex Barth: No, seriously. Can people know that... you can like both quarterbacks and you can admit that one is better than the other, but they're both good.

Last season was a significant step-back for Mac Jones, as he threw for only 14 touchdowns in 2022 after reaching the 22 benchmark in his rookie season.

Lots of blame was fairly targeted at Matt Patricia and Joe Judge, who formulated a disaster of an offense from the very first day of training camp. It only got worse as the season went along, with Jones barking at Patricia on the sideline and looking visibly frustrated. Not to mention, a high-ankle sprain that stopped Jones from starting 3 games.

As Scott Zolak said yesterday, so far this preseason it has looked like Mac Jones is transforming back into his rookie season form. A big part of that is Bill O'Brien returning as the Patriots offensive coordinator again. He's seemed a lot more confident over the last few weeks, along with a guy like Kendrick Bourne who was in the dog house last year.

Throughout the offseason, there was constant back and forth on whether Jones and Belichick's relationship was in good standing. As a show, we speculated on a regular basis when Belichick would just refer to Jones using his name again. Since camp rolled around, it's been clear every day that there was no quarterback competition.

No Bailey Zappe fever. Even with all the Malik Cunningham hype, it was always clear that the Patriots viewed him in more of a gadget and wide receiver role. Trace McSorley has been an afterthought both on the practice fields and in preseason games.

Still, even the biggest Jones' fans admit that he didn't play well enough despite the circumstances last year. It wasn't the level of play you expect from a franchise quarterback. If he can't take the proper steps this season, his future in the NFL will become a serious question.

So let's take a look back at all of Jones' touchdowns from last season. Hopefully a year from now this total has at least doubled.

After the Patriots offense started slow in Week 1 last season, they finally got on board as Mac Jones hit Ty Montgomery for a 6-yard touchdown in the 3rd quarter.

In the second quarter, Mac Jones and Nelson Agholor connected on the rare deep pass. At the time, many people called this the catch of the season. By far the best catch of Agholor's time in New England.

After the toughest stretch of Jones' career, as he battled a high-ankle sprain and Zappe fever reached its peak, it wasn't the smoothest return. His first touchdown back went to his old security blanket in Jakobi Meyers on a 5-yard pass.

Rhamondre Stevenson was the engine for the Patriots offseason, and that included this great one-handed grab against the Colts. It set the tone for the Patriots most dominant win of the season.

By far the best performance from Jones all season. He was 28 for 39 passing and accumulated 382 yards in the air. No interceptions were thrown either, just touchdown passes to Agholor and Henry.

One of the highlights of last season was Marcus Jones contributing in each facet of the game. That included a 48-yard touchdown from Jones where he absolutely blitzed the Bills defense. It felt like a potential turning point for the Patriots offense, but it ended up being the last touchdown they scored that game.

A late rally from the Patriots offense and Mac Jones allowed the offense to put two touchdowns on the board. The first one to Bourne, which was a flashback to the chemistry him and Jones had the previous season. Then a Hail Mary on 3rd and 29 that Meyers came down with after a deflection off Scotty Washington's hands.

With the Patriots playoff hopes on the line, Mac Jones battled back from being down 14-7 to pull off a 23-21 win. Jones and Thornton connected on their first touchdown together and Thornton's first score at Gillette Stadium. Then another classic Jones to Meyer hookup for the game-winning touchdown.

As the Patriots fought for their playoff hopes, Mac Jones threw 3 touchdowns with 2 coming via nice grabs from Parker. He also threw 3 interceptions as the offense desperately tried to claw its way into the game. It once again showed the desperate state of the Patriots offense.