New England Patriots: 3 major issues that popped up in Week 7 loss
New England Patriots issue No. 1: Is Mac Jones or Bailey Zappe the starting quarterback?
Easily the biggest issue that arose from this game was the team’s handling of the quarterback position with Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe.
The Patriots and Bill Belichick seemed intent on ending the supposed quarterback controversy with Jones returning against the Bears. Instead, in the blink of an eye, New England finds themselves with quite a dilemma at quarterback that could have easily been avoided.
To recap, Jones played the opening three drives, and looked horrible. He completed just three of his six passes for 13 yards and an interception before giving way to Zappe. Zappe immediately gave the Patriots a 14-10 lead, but struggled in the second half once Chicago’s defense adapted, and ended up finishing with a rather mediocre statline (14/22, 185 YDS, 1 TD, 2 INT) while also losing a fumble on a botched handoff to Jakobi Meyers.
Where do the Patriots go from here? No matter what Belichick says, in which he is claiming he told Jones and other leaders of the team that the plan was to start Jones before giving way to Zappe, it’s clear Jones was benched because of his poor play. They can say he was still not 100 percent healthy with his ankle injury, but that didn’t appear to be the case considering he ran three times for 24 yards in his limited action. If Jones wasn’t good to go, he wouldn’t have played.
For a point in time, Jones’ tenure with the Patriots looked to be in doubt after Zappe came on and led two quick touchdown drives. But he didn’t get anything going in the second half, and while part of that is Patricia’s fault for a horrible game plan, and the defense for being unable to get off the field, Zappe also has to take some of the blame.
Tyquan Thornton making quick impression on the Pats. dark. Next
From the outside looking in, the Patriots are on the verge of falling apart. Aside from Jones, no one has come out and said they knew Zappe entering the game was part of the plan. Some of Jones’ offensive teammates were even going up to him and apologizing for how the game played out for him. The whole situation is a mess.
And yet, the Patriots have to recover quickly and prepare for the New York Jets in Week 8. Who will be starting that game remains a mystery, and at this point, there doesn’t really appear to be a right decision from the coaching staff. New England could have easily killed this quarterback controversy, but now, the team will have to deal with this issue, among several others, in the buildup to a huge divisional matchup against the Jets.