Bill Belichick accused of saving face at cost of Patriots’ season for picking Mac Jones after Baily Zappe’s impressive performance in last 2 games

An analyst suspects the HC stick with Bailey Zappe to protect his legacy and reputation.

Bill Belichick accused of saving face at cost of Patriots’ season for picking Mac Jones after Baily Zappe’s impressive performance in last 2 games

Bailey Zappe and Bill Belichick (via AP)

The New England Patriots have struggled all season long, with a 3-11 record, the team sits at the bottom of the AFC East. The blame for its failure has gone to Head Coach Bill Belichick for not drafting the right pieces and making enough trades in the offseason. One of the biggest letdowns this season for the Patriots has been production from their quarterbacks.

The team has stuck with Mac Jones as the QB1 for most of the season, that has not gone over well. While Bill Belichick never came out and said that he was going to be the starter this season, it was pretty evident.

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Given that Bailey Zappe who has been competing with Mac Jones all season long at QB has performed significantly better than his counterpart in just two weeks of starting establishes one thing, Belichick is no longer the same coaching genius he was a decade ago.

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An NFL analyst believes there could be another reason why Belichick decided to stick with Mac Jones all season long. Dov Kleiman’s theory is that the Pats’ HC stuck with Jones because he was the team’s first-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. He suspects that by giving the bulk of the play time to Jones, Belichick saved himself from being blamed for wasting the team’s first-round draft pick.

Bailey Zappe is outplaying Mac Jones in just 3 games of starting for the Patriots

The 15th pick in the 2021 Draft has thrown for 2,120 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions this season. He has a QBR of 36.9 and he ranks amongst the bottom 5 quarterbacks in the NFL.

Bill Belichick and Mac Jones
Bill Belichick’s decision to stick with Mac Jones as the team’s QB1 could have cost the Patriots a few wins. (via NYPost)

Bailey Zappe, on the other hand, has gotten just a handful of opportunities to play this season but he has made the most out of them. He has 719 yards with 4 touchdowns and 4 interceptions, so far this season.

Despite their loss to New England, Zappe and the team’s offense put up a fight, it was not as hard to watch this game as it has been to watch the ones wherein Mac Jones has been starting. Patrick Mahomes gave Belichick his flowers and called him the “Best coach of all time, the best defensive coach…Belichick is going to be in that separate hall in the Hall of Fame…“

The team could have won more games and have a better record on the season. Bill Belichick is a chess master and if he did understand that Zappe would perform better and the team could win one or two games than they would with Jones, he would have still gone with the latter. This is because those two victories would not have done much for the team but they would do just enough to tarnish Belichick’s capabilities as a GM.

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