The Patriots off-season discourse spiraled into the “just say something” phase REAL quick.

It’s early April, the Patriots are mediocre, and Bill Belichick was excessively tight-lipped in his most recent presser, so there’s little to get particularly excited about and plenty to get worked up over at this point in the year. But it’s easy to just drum up a controversy out of a crumbling leaf of information. It’s even easier to spread that leaf like a forest fire, because the fine psychos of the Internet will spark it for you.

The latest example of flimsy speculation spun wildly out of control comes courtesy of the Dan Patrick Show, in which the eponymous host suggested he had a source inside Gillette Stadium who basically polled the locker room to gauge the level of “support” for quarterbacks Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe. So, as if there wasn’t enough drama being manufactured around the Patriots’ principals – Belichick, Jones, and Robert Kraft, namely – we’ve got to do it between the two QBs and the rest of the locker room, too.

• Video: A player source tells Dan Patrick that the Patriots locker room has a "lot of support" for Bailey Zappe.https://t.co/C6xy6ax3W0

  — Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) April 6, 2023

• “I do think that locker room is split,” Patrick said. “[My source] said there’s a lot of support for Bailey Zappe. But that doesn’t mean they’re ready to turn the team over to Bailey Zappe.”

  Certainly seems like Patrick made a leap there. What even IS “a lot of support” for Zappe? Does that mean they truly support Zappe OVER Jones? Did the players even know what they were being polled on? How realistic is it in the first place that Patriots players would say they prefer one over the other?

  The whole thing was too vague to be taken seriously. But none of that matters in this day and age. Nowadays, that’s enough for a headline and a radio segment and a Dov Kleiman retweet. And we’re OFF! It’s a media shitstorm!

• 

  Oct 24, 2022; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones (10) and quarterback Bailey Zappe (4) run onto the field before a game against the Chicago Bears at Gillette Stadium. Credit: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports

• That’s the problem with modern discourse in the age of social media, instant gratification, takes, arguments, and … well just bullshit. Loose speculation and misleading “reports” are absorbed and re-told as the Word of the Lord (Lord, hear our prayer). Entertainment becomes journalism. Half-truths become whole truths.

  And it’s become impossible for general audiences to discern the truth from fiction, or the journalism from entertainment. Michael Felger himself would admit to you he’s just doing a talk show and he has to do one five days a week, so he’s going to half to come up with stuff to talk about that day, every day. And this thing from Dan Patrick was just too easy for him.

  Felger and Mazz were obviously going to sink their teeth into the made-up Jones-Zappe controversy. Dan Patrick said it. Beyond good enough!

• Felger and Mazz are far from alone, and they’re not even necessarily the problem, really. It’s the too-large audience of people who take what people say and simply repeat it instead of thinking for themselves. This leads to an overreliance on the take over the truth. But maybe they don’t care to find the truth. That would be fine. It just wouldn’t be a good feeling for those who do. And that’s not to say this very column is airtight, full of truth, well-organized. But if they can have an opinion, so can I. My opinion is this whole discourse is wet garbage.

  You may ask, then … what IS the truth? The closest thing to it in recent days has likely come from Jeff Howe at The Athletic, where he gave a measured, balanced, and even informed update on Mike Florio’s “report” that the Patriots “shopped” Mac Jones in trade talks earlier in the off-season. Howe essentially reported that Jones’ name did come up in conversations, but only in the sense that QBs always come up in conversation in some form or another, and the idea he was being shopped around wasn’t accurate. Basically, the actual truth is somewhere in-between Speculation Road and Hot Take Boulevard, where Florio likes to traverse most of his days.

  Howe was one of multiple reporters to strike down that other piece of the Patriots controversy cauldron that Florio dropped seemingly out of nowhere. But of course, many seemed to just blow right by him and others and just believe Florio, because they want to. Makes you wonder what is even the point of all this.

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  Nov 20, 2022; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones (10) and quarterback Bailey Zappe (4) walk onto the field before a game against the New York Jets at Gillette Stadium. Credit: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports

• Maybe none of us know the whole truth, and the best we can do is say what we think. So if you want to know what I think about this, after taking the Hot Take Complex to task … I think Jones and Zappe will be treated like a competition entering training camp, Jones will have to earn the starting job just like anyone else, and nothing will be handed to anybody.

  But I also think any notion that the Patriots locker room is divided over who should play, or that there’s any kind of problem there, is needless shit-stirring. The players all have their own jobs to do. But even if they were forced to pick, I still think they’d lean Jones, because of his experience and superior physical tools.

  But now I feel dirty, because I have waded into the muck. That is, the muck of off-season Patriots talk in 2023. What the hell else are we going to talk about at this time of year when it comes to 1 Patriot Place?

  Might as well make something up. Say it the loudest. Foam at the mouth. Shoot blood out of your nose. And whatever you do, do NOT choose your words carefully. People will believe whatever you say, anyway. And it’s easier to just go by the last thing you heard. Much easier than digging for the truth.

• Click here for complete New England Patriots coverage at 985TheSportsHub.com.

  Matt Dolloff is a writer and podcaster for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Have a news tip, question, or comment for Matt? Yell at him on Twitter @mattdolloff and follow him on Instagram @realmattdolloff. Check out all of Matt’s content here.

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