All signs and reports point to Zappe Fever returning to Gillette Stadium on Sunday afternoon, as second-year once buzz-worthy backup Bailey Zappe looks to make his first start since a Week 6 win in Cleveland last October.
Zappe takes over the reins of the New England offense from a broken, battered and nine-times beaten Mac Jones, whom he’s already replaced in four games this season.
Zappe will put his undefeated 2-0 record as an NFL starter on the line against the Chargers for a Patriots team that has tasted victory just twice all season and is currently in line for the No. 3 overall pick in next April’s Draft.
But what exactly are we expecting to get from Zappe in his apparent return to a role that had the Foxborough Faithful chanting his name in supportive, energized unison last fall?
More importantly, what do we even want from Zappe as he leads an offense that has lost consecutive games that it could have won with a mere 11 points, a unit that’s 31st in the NFL in scoring?
In a word? Entertainment. That’s it. Certainly nothing more.
Zappe is sliding into action for a Patriots team that was just deemed as unwatchable and unmarketable as any in the NFL right now by league executives and TV bosses. That’s a fact proven by New England’s Week 15 scheduled prime time affair against Patrick Mahomes and Taylor Swift’s boyfriend making history as the first game ever flexed out of the Monday Night Football spotlight.
Thought the Patriots had bottomed out embarrassingly in those losses to the Colts in Germany and Giants in New York? This is much more telling for Robert Kraft as it relates to how low things have gotten for his once-great, once-entertaining, once-respected franchise. Heck, Amazon Prime is promoting next week’s Thursday night affair in Pittsburgh with a picture of New England’s 71-year-old head coach opposite Steelers star T.J. Watt.
That’s where Zappe steps in to the huddle and the pitiful picture.
Zappe enters the conversation in Patriot Nation where a majority of fans don’t want Bill Belichick back for 2024. A base that seemingly has its eyes now set on a top-three draft pick, at worst.
Harsh, post-Tanksgiving reality is that the best thing that Zappe can do is provide a boost in overall entertainment value in a gutsy losing effort.
Sure we’d love to see him complete passes. Avoid interceptions. And not gesture in annoyed, disgusted fashion at his teammates and coaches the way Jones has done late in the year over each of the last two years.
Bring positive energy, effort and attitude to the mix. And maybe even a few points, as he provided with his first drive in the second half last week in New York.
But, if we’re being honest, the last thing the Patriots need right now is to win a couple games down the final six-week stretch because of some Bailey Bump or Zappe Zip.
Heck, even if Zappe Fever spreads faster than the ol’ Morgan Magic days of Red Sox Nation past, the best the Patriots could finish at this point is 8-9. Another losing season. Another lackluster draft pick. More wheel-spinning as a franchise.
Sure a six-game, Zappe-led winning streak might feel fun in the moment of this holiday season. But it would be regrettable for the long haul and leave a painful January winter morn’ hangover.
So, as Zappe apparently takes over for Jones in the first Patriots’ starting QB change due to performance since 1992, the young passer literally has a no-win job to do. Inject some life into the on-field offensive action? Sure. Make a few plays? Absolutely. Give it your all while adding some entertainment value to a team that may be the least entertaining team in football right now? Please do.
But whatever you do Bailey Zappe, please don’t win a game or two this December and January. That’s actually pretty much the only way things could get even worse for these perpetually bottoming-out Patriots.
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