Zappe Fever
Image by ClutchPoints
It blows my mind that there are any fans of the New England Patriots that want Bailey Zappe to start over Mac Jones based off of what they’ve seen in one and a half games.
Now don’t get me wrong I fully understand that I may just be talking about a small minority of the fanbase. I also understand that fans, especially in New England, can have crazy short fuses and matching patience to boot. Bailey Zappe is fine for what he is as a quarterback, but if you’re comparing him to anyone better than Chase Daniels of the Chargers you have a rude awakening coming very soon.
By the way, if you’re Bailey Zappe, you should be completely satisfied to have a Daniels-ish career as Alex Moran of Blue Mountain State said it best “Backup quarterback is the best position in sports. Fact: I get drunk all the time. I don't have to show up to class; and it's just like being a real quarterback but without all the pain.” Nothing wrong with being a backup, in fact most of us probably wish they had that cushy of a position.
The problem I have most is how quickly people are willing to jump off the Jones ship just based off how poorly this season started. First, these are the same people who were screaming their heads off about how bad of a decision it was to have Matt Patricia and Joe Judge running the offensive side of things. If you’re going to tell me on one hand that those coaches are complete bozos but then on the other hand say that’s not a major reason for Mac’s poor start you’ve lost me completely. Secondly, the Patriots are also attempting to not only add in new zone running and passing schemes, but they’ve also reportedly made changes to what everything is called as well.
So, if you have a second-year quarterback who is still trying to learn the system and you change basically everything he knows going into year two he will most likely have issues. Those issues also extend to the receivers who are not on the same page as the quarterback which will always cause problems. Last thing I will say about Mac’s poor start is because of the afore mentioned changes Mac seemingly felt it was on him to change plays and make things work. Did he force some bad throws? Yes. Were they all his fault and should he be crucified for those mistakes? Hell no!
I don’t want to make this just all about Mac’s performance though as this is a Zappe Fever blog. I need the people spouting off about how great Zappe is to explain to me what he has done so far? Sure, he has completed some passes, but those have been to completely wide-open receivers going back to the Devante Adams touchdown pass against the Packers and moving into the open throws to Jacoby Meyers against the Lions. He was a perfectly suitable game management quarterback against Detroit and that’s all we needed him to be. NOTHING he has done yet warrants ANY fan saying Zappe should start over Jones.
The only thing I hope now for the kid is he can win a few more games to let Mac heal up and then we trade him for way too many draft picks from some desperate organization looking for the next real thing at quarterback!
There’s your claptrap for the day.
