The Patriots lost this past Sunday 27-24 in overtime to the Green Bay Packers. What seemed to be a game within reach fell flat due to inconsistencies on offense. But the biggest story that came from this, though, was at the quarterback position for New England.

With QB Mac Jones still battling an ankle injury, Brian Hoyer started the game for the Patriots. But when he went down with an injury early on in the game, the six-time world champions turned to their 2022 fourth round draft pick Bailey Zappe, who hadn’t seen any NFL regular season action prior to Sunday.

Zappe, who had a college football record-breaking year at Western Kentucky last season, entered a game which many thought was way out of the Patriots’ reach without Mac Jones at the helm, but did not disappoint. After starting off a little shaky, like many would, Zappe helped the team march down the field multiple times and put them in position to score in the red zone throughout. The team’s defense helped him out as well, scoring a touchdown off a returned interception, and got multiple stops against a very good Aaron Rodgers led offense.

A highlight for Zappe was the 25 yard touchdown pass to DeVante Parker he threw in the third quarter, cutting the deficit the Patriots faced by seven. This helped give a much needed boost of energy not only to the offense, but to the entire team as well.

Some might ask, what was the Patriots’ demise of this game, then? To me, the answer is simple: play calling. To say the play calling of this game was inconsistent would be a great understatement. At times when they wouldn’t be able to move the ball on first and second down, Zappe would be forced to throw the ball over the middle and put it in harm’s way. While Zappe was in the game and commanding the offense, it seemed to be that the Patriots would surely not going to take any chances. And when you have a rookie with a college resume like his, you have to take those chances.

In the end, though, Zappe didn’t disappoint on any level, and showed that he could be of great use to the Patriots for a long time as he showed off his extensive potential. Whether or not the Patriots move along with him at the helm for the next few weeks is up in the air still, but it’s still very valuable to know that the fourth rounder they chose can definitely sling it and hang in there during big game moments.