When it comes to Zappe Magic, our eyes seem to have played tricks on us
Zappe #Zappe
For a couple of minutes in the second quarter, it was Zappe Magic, and it almost felt like 21 years ago when young Tom Brady came out of nowhere and took the quarterback job from Drew Bledsoe.
In the first half in front of a prime-time “Monday Night Football” audience against the Bears, Mr. Mac Jones was Wally Pipped by Bailey Zappe’s Lou Gehrig (Zappe even wears no. 4). Zappe was Elvis. He was Rudy — with talent. The fourth-round pick from Western Kentucky came off the bench and directed two TD drives in less than four minutes, rocking Gillette to its foundation, and taking the Patriots from a 10-0 deficit to a 14-10 lead.
The golly-gee kid completed 4 of 4 passes for 97 yards. He threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Jakobi Meyers and a 43-yard bomb to DeVante Parker.
Our local quarterback controversy was in full (not Chaim) Bloom. Zappe had officially supplanted last year’s Pro Bowl/playoff rookie, Jones, who came to New England as a first-round QB savior. It looked as if the Pats would move to 4-3 and take Zappe Magic into the Meadowlands against the hated Jets this weekend.
But the center would not hold (that was left to left tackle Trent Brown). The heavily-favored Pats could not contain Chicago’s much-maligned running quarterback Justin Fields and dug a hole too deep for Zappe Magic.
At the end of the “Monday Night Football” show, the Patriots were 33-14 losers, Bill Belichick was still tied with Papa Bear Halas (324 wins) for second place on the all-time victory list, and poor Mac was spitting out pieces of his broken luck — wondering what he did to offend the football gods.
Today the Pats are just another 3-4 football team with two quarterbacks and little chance of a serious playoff run. Chicago was supposed to be a layup. This was supposed to be the soft part of the schedule.
We had controversy all week about who would be New England’s starting quarterback and in the end, Belichick made the wrong decision. He went with his franchise guy, who’d been out for four weeks with a high ankle sprain. He went with Mac Jones and Jones delivered bupkis. Jone was gone after three series — two three-and-outs and one interception.
Maybe Jones has been reduced to a trade chip. For the time being, the future is Zappe.
Zappe Fever had gripped our region after the 23-year-old rookie from Western Kentucky led the Pats to victories over the moribund Lions and Browns in Weeks 5 and 6. Leading up to Monday, the “Jones or Zappe” question was a Churchillian riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. The topic dominated airwaves and all local football conversation, and Belichick did nothing to diminish the drama. Diabolical Hoodie seemed to enjoy keeping everyone (especially the Bears) in the dark — and a part of us suspects Belichick enjoyed making his second-year, first-round franchise QB think twice about his job security.
Given the paranoid Pats’ reluctance to reveal anything (Q: ”Bill, is today Tuesday?” A: ”Well, traditionally that’s the day that follows Monday”), speculation runs wild whenever there’s a QB job up for grabs and most of us remember 2001 when sixth-round Tom replaced injured Drew and never returned the torch.
Fueling the irrational fires of a delightful controversy, we had leakage of humble Mac morphing into an entitled diva. Nobody on the team went on record with this charge, but Zappe Fever had a lot of Pats fans buying the smear and wanting to see more Zappe.
Going back to last season, Jones was 2-6 in his last eight starts. He threw five picks and lost a fumble in his first three games of 2022. Why make a change with Zappe 2-0 as a starter, we wondered? Why risk Jones reinjuring the ankle on a soggy field? Why not wait until next weekend when the Pats have a tough game on the road against the hated Jets? What would we all say if Belichick made the switch back to Jones, then lost the game, as well as all Zappe momentum?
Former Patriot coach Bill Parcells said it best: “You lose your job for two reasons: 1. You’re not playing well, or 2. Someone else is playing better. If you’re out of the game and someone else goes in and obviously plays better, then you lose your job.’’
For the time being, Jones has lost his job.
He went three and out on New England’s first two possessions and fans were chanting “Zappe!, Zappe!” when the underdog Bears lined up for an extra point to take a 10-0 lead with 2:11 left in the first quarter.
Jones looked surprisingly mobile, but couldn’t put points on the board. The barbarians were at the gate when Jones got picked in his next series.
Enter Zappe. Touchdown Meyers. Then a second possession and the home run pass to Parker. Seconds later, Rhamondre Stevenson ran it into the end zone and the Pats led, 14-10. Just like that. Less than four minutes. To his credit, Jones was quick to congratulate Zappe after each TD drive. That can’t be easy.
The Patriots trailed 20-14 at intermission and Belichick told the MNF crew that he would play both of his quarterbacks in the second half.
We’re still waiting for Jones to get back on the field.
Zappe had a three and out to start the third quarter. Meanwhile, the Bears kept gashing New England’s run defense and led 26-14 when Zappe had a third-and-2 pass tipped at the line of scrimmage late in the third.
Down, 33-14, Zappe had one last stand midway through the fourth, but one of his passes was tipped at the line and intercepted by Bears linebacker Roquan Smith.
Yuck. Doug Flutie syndrome. Short guy (Zappe is 6 foot even) gets passes tipped at the line of scrimmage.
It got worse. With less than three minutes to play, Bears corner Kyler Gordon jumped the route and almost had a Pick-6.
Yuck. No joy in mudville. Zappe Days are not here again.