Phil Perry: Bailey Zappe is an improvement over Mac Jones
On Monday’s edition of Zolak and Bertrand, Phil Perry joins the show and explains how Bailey Zappe is an improvement over Mac Jones as the Patriots’ starting quarterback.
I thought it was an improvement at the Quarterback position…
Bertrand: All right. We’ll, jump right in and tell us your thoughts on Bailey Zappe and if he was better or worse than Mack Jones.
Phil Perry: Well, overall, I mean, offensively, somehow it’s gotten worse. Somehow, somehow, someway. Yards per play. Worse than it was against the Giants, worse than it was against the Colts. Yards per pass, you factor in the lost yardage to the sacks worse than it was in those two previous games, which were horrid. Success rate worse than it was the previous two weeks, believe it or not. Statistically, in a number of different areas, it’s gotten worse.
Now, that said, and I listened to Zo on the broadcast and so I think I know how he feels about this comparison-Mac versus Zappe. What I would say is in the second half specifically, I thought that was an improvement at the Quarterback position.
Zolak: He was starting to come on in the second half.
Phil Perry: Over what we’ve seen lately. Right. Mac Jones threw for 300 yards and almost beat the Eagles in week one. It wasn’t that good, but it was better than Mac Jones against the Giants. It was better than Mac Jones against the Colts. The mobility, the accuracy down the field, which I give Bailey Zappe a lot of credit for. The conditions sucked. I was out there before the game. I’m sitting there watching people just get drenched over the course of three hours from the press box. Not many people in the 200 level, but a lot of people in the 100 level getting drenched.
And I give him credit for the deep balls down the sideline to Devante Parker that were accurate. The back shoulder throw to Devante Parker that went for 20 plus yards. The deep over to Parker for 20 plus yards. Tyquan Thornton drops a deep ball, like I thought he threw the ball fairly well in the second half when he got into a rhythm, that said the numbers were horrible. One of the worst pass defenses in football. It’s a low, low bar, but I thought it was a slight improvement from what we’d seen previously.
Zolak: I don’t think there’s anything he did in the game that they- when they go back and look at it on film- felt like, wow, we got to realistically be fair and watch it on film. Yeah, we can’t go back to Mac right now.
Listen to the full segment here!
Bill Belichick shares what led to the Patriots making the quarterback change this week
FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS – DECEMBER 03: Head coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots looks on in the second quarter against the Los Angeles Chargers at Gillette Stadium on December 03, 2023 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
“I thought he deserved it,” Belichick said when asked by Zappe got the start in this game.
Zappe finished the game 13-of-25 for 141 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. He also carried the ball four times for 16 yards, picking up two first downs with his legs.
“He’s worked hard all year,” Belichick added, when asked what specifically Zappe showed the coaching staff to get this chance. “I thought he deserved a chance to play. We made that decision last week” Belichick wouldn’t specify if Zappe’s practice performance improved in recent weeks leading up to the change, but a report from Andrew Callahan of The Boston Herald on Friday indicated that wasn’t the case.
However, when asked why the team didn’t make the move sooner, Belichick seemed to indicate this was more a case of Jones losing the job, than Zappe winning it.
