Pre Game Thread- Pats @ Jets

[40yrpatsfan]

A number of posts here say that we "must beat the Jets this week.' I think that's so, if we are referring to our staying in contention for the...Super Bowl? Let's be honest: there's no way THAT is going to happen. I have thought all along that this year is about next year, and subsequent years. To me, this year is a success if we progress in building a team which actually IS among the teams genuinely competing for the championship. I even see the Zappe/Mac thing in this light. I don't mind the "chaos" created by - what? - letting Zappe play even if it hurts widdle Mac's feelings? I say lets find out if Zappe can improve enough to lead a genuinely competitive team and whether Mac has the Moxie to stand up, get better, compete, and stop throwing all those Nervous Nellie interceptions. I'd start Zappe, see how he plays, see how Mac reacts, if he does.

Generally agree with this post. The media and some fans have their panties in a bunch, but BB and the team are focused on the Jets. Mac's fine about being pulled, he's used to all that from Alabama.

I do think that Mac is the better option to start Sunday though. I was surprised at how fully he's recovered, how mobile he was. He looked pretty good till that pick. Sunday is going to be an intense crowd, and Zappe isn't ready for that yet. Alos, BB hasn't conceded the season yet, he's just trying to get to 5-4 by the break.

 

[jdlboot14]

Losing Andrews and Dugger for this game is worse than whether they start Mac or Zap.
Ferentz is a decent vet backup, but not near as stout.
If BB doesn't name a starter today, I will lose a lot of respect for him. There's nothing to gain from splitting reps 50/50, keeping all the offensive skill guys questioning, missing out on much needed chemistry in the passing game. It's such a weak, stubborn, outside-oriented move.
For all he says about ignoring the noise, doing this again this week would be ONLY because of the outside noise. To prove he's the boss.
What is "best for the football team" is to name a starter and game plan for him. (because they are different)

 

[slash83]

Losing Andrews and Dugger for this game is worse than whether they start Mac or Zap.
Ferentz is a decent vet backup, but not near as stout.
If BB doesn't name a starter today, I will lose a lot of respect for him. There's nothing to gain from splitting reps 50/50, keeping all the offensive skill guys questioning, missing out on much needed chemistry in the passing game. It's such a weak, stubborn, outside-oriented move.
For all he says about ignoring the noise, doing this again this week would be ONLY because of the outside noise. To prove he's the boss.
What is "best for the football team" is to name a starter and game plan for him. (because they are different)

I promise he isn’t naming a starter today or tomorrow.

 

[catent]

Thank goodness the team doesn't share your attitude(s) about competition.

As if you (or anyone else posting here) know what the team's internal attitude/disposition is towards the quarterback situation.

 

[catent]

I promise he isn’t naming a starter today or tomorrow.

I wouldn't be so sure of that. I'm sure he's talked with Kraft over the past 36 hours and realizes the impact on team morale that having quarterback controversy questions (unfairly) peppered at his players is having.

My money is on him naming a guy today, but we'll see.

 

[Pats2000]

You can't excuse his bad plays if we are going to hold Mac to his...they were still trying to get back in it. Fact is pats had a lead 14-10 at one point and we're within striking distance multiple times and zappe folded.

He played better starting at the 50 yard line for two plays in the first half. But the second half. 4 batted passes in a row multiple 3 and outs and 2 picks. Isn't exactly great.

No it's not. But it's far better than Mac's 50% completion rate for 13 yards and 1 interception.

I'm not defending his bad plays, but he is a rookie, and he was able to come in and get them back in the game. The defense then allowed scoring drives on every single play thereafter. That's a lot to put on a rookie's shoulders.

 

[slash83]

I wouldn't be so sure of that. I'm sure he's talked with Kraft over the past 36 hours and realizes the impact on team morale that having quarterback controversy questions (unfairly) peppered at his players is having.

My money is on him naming a guy today, but we'll see.

I hope he does, but history tells us he will want to keep the other team guessing as long as possible. I doubt it'll have any impact on the game but that's how he's rolled in the past.

 

[Stu Pidassle]

BB will name a starter if he feels that it is in the best interest of the team. Despite his mind games with the team, he does listen to the players where appropriate. I am sure that he has already sought input from the captains and addressed the percieved communication gaps with the lockeroom.

 

[mike_usagisan]

I wouldn't be so sure of that. I'm sure he's talked with Kraft over the past 36 hours and realizes the impact on team morale that having quarterback controversy questions (unfairly) peppered at his players is having.

My money is on him naming a guy today, but we'll see.

I don't agree, because I think Bill sees more value in not naming a starter (making the other team prepare for both, etc.), but I think you're right that the distraction is problematic, and Bill probably knows that. But as Chatham says in the second part of this tweet, I think Bill feels that it's not the players' jobs to decide who plays and who doesn't.

 

[Pats2000]

I don’t think that’s true. He took advantage of a busted coverage on the leak to jakobi as any qb (Mac included) would have done. Actually, he made a bad throw and it took jakobi making a spectacular catch for us to not miss out on that touchdown.
After that, he wasn’t impressive or productive imo. I like what he’s showed the last few weeks, but this was his first game that wasn’t against a poor defense where we could rely on the run, hit wide open PA, and play from ahead. He may do well in the future, but I don’t think he played well last night.

This is the exact context everyone has been disregarding for Mac lol.
In the ravens game, he had 3 picks (which has been brought up all the time). One of them was legit on Mac, one was Parker’s fault, one was at the end of the game pushing the ball down multiple scores.
Last night, Mac’s pick was under pressure. It was a really poor decision, but there’s no excusing zappe’s bad pick on the pass to Thornton and not similarly excusing Mac’s pick last night. They were both bad.
Zappe’s batted interception was unlucky to an extent, but he got several balls batted last night. He (and possibly his height) plays a role in that. He also may have contributed to the fumble handoff.
I’m still hopeful zappe is a good player long term, but the “play zappe until he plays badly or loses” crowd can be done now.

The leak to Jacobi wasn't a bad throw, it was miscommunication. If JM had kept going the same direction on his route, then it would have been an easy pitch and catch. But he changed direction at the very end, then adjusted to the ball. Maybe it was a bad throw, or maybe a route miscommunication. All you see is the end result, which you can't really judge.

Again, it was the 4th quarter, by the way they were playing, they weren't trying to win the game. Hudling up, taking a bunch of time for each play. BB had already conceded the game. He was just trying to get out of there with minimal people getting hurt. Dude was just trying to make a play to run out the clock. When the game was still in hand, he was playing awesome. But again, it was probably too much to ask a rookie to put the game on his shoulders like that.

Mac is not a rookie, and he has not played well for about 9 games now, the last 5 games of last year and pretty much every game this year, except their one win where he was ok. Mac and Zappe have played the same amount of games and Mac has double the interceptions and less than half the number of TD's. Where they've had about the same amount of game time. Zappe has been by far the superior QB. I'm willing to be BB is seeing it in practice too. All I'm saying is they better start Zappe against the Jet's.

 

[upstater1]

I wouldn't be so sure of that. I'm sure he's talked with Kraft over the past 36 hours and realizes the impact on team morale that having quarterback controversy questions (unfairly) peppered at his players is having.

My money is on him naming a guy today, but we'll see.

The QBs know whose starting. Belichick is not going to announce it to the world. Why would he?

 

[Rob0729]

The leak to Jacobi wasn't a bad throw, it was miscommunication. If JM had kept going the same direction on his route, then it would have been an easy pitch and catch. But he changed direction at the very end, then adjusted to the ball. Maybe it was a bad throw, or maybe a route miscommunication. All you see is the end result, which you can't really judge.

Again, it was the 4th quarter, by the way they were playing, they weren't trying to win the game. Hudling up, taking a bunch of time for each play. BB had already conceded the game. He was just trying to get out of there with minimal people getting hurt. Dude was just trying to make a play to run out the clock. When the game was still in hand, he was playing awesome. But again, it was probably too much to ask a rookie to put the game on his shoulders like that.

Mac is not a rookie, and he has not played well for about 9 games now, the last 5 games of last year and pretty much every game this year, except their one win where he was ok. Mac and Zappe have played the same amount of games and Mac has double the interceptions and less than half the number of TD's. Where they've had about the same amount of game time. Zappe has been by far the superior QB. I'm willing to be BB is seeing it in practice too. All I'm saying is they better start Zappe against the Jet's.

I still don't think it was a miscommunication at all. I think Zappe overthrew it. I don't think it could possibly be a miscommunication because I don't think that was the route Meyers was supposed to run on that play and only headed to the end zone when the LB covering him bit on the play action so hard. And when Zappe say that and threw it to Meyers, it was on him to get it to the area where Meyers could either catch or make an adjustment on the ball.

And you do realize a lot of Mac Jones' bad play last year occurred in garbage time where the defense gave up a ton of points because they were toast. You are giving Zappe the benefit of the doubt in a blow out and not Jones?

 

[upstater1]

Again, it was the 4th quarter, by the way they were playing, they weren't trying to win the game. Hudling up, taking a bunch of time for each play. BB had already conceded the game. He was just trying to get out of there with minimal people getting hurt. Dude was just trying to make a play to run out the clock. When the game was still in hand, he was playing awesome. But again, it was probably too much to ask a rookie to put the game on his shoulders like that.

This makes no sense to me at all.

It should have been easier for him if he wasn't pressing to make a play to stay in the game.

If you're making safe plays because you've conceded, it's easier.

What's hard is going into the teeth of a defense when they know you're throwing... because you have to.

You can't bash one guy for playing badly when he's 2 scores down against the Ravens and then not bash the other guy for playing badly when he's 2 scores down against the Bears. Both QBs played badly when they had to throw.

 

[catent]

The QBs know whose starting. Belichick is not going to announce it to the world. Why would he?

Because if he doesn't, the media will continue to cover the perceived QB controversy and that will take a toll on the players. That isn't lost on him. He'll do what's best for the team.

 

[slash83]

Not likely having Dugger and Andrew’s make things really tough.

 

[Lagaffe_07]

You can't bash one guy for playing badly when he's 2 scores down against the Ravens and then not bash the other guy for playing badly when he's 2 scores down against the Bears. Both QBs played badly when they had to throw.

Yes they both played badly Monday. Overall I still think this year Zappe played better than Mac. And I’m sorry but expectation are different. One guy has played 3.5 NFL game in his career. The other has played 22. I have higher expectation for the guy who has more experience and is supposed to better. It’s disingenuous to hold both to the same standard.

Mac is 2-6 in his last 8 games and has thrown 21 INT in 22 games. That’s not good. Mac is trending down. I want to see if Zappe can grow and take that experience and do better next time.

 

[archstanton543]

Generally agree with this post. The media and some fans have their panties in a bunch, but BB and the team are focused on the Jets. Mac's fine about being pulled, he's used to all that from Alabama.

I do think that Mac is the better option to start Sunday though. I was surprised at how fully he's recovered, how mobile he was. He looked pretty good till that pick. Sunday is going to be an intense crowd, and Zappe isn't ready for that yet. Alos, BB hasn't conceded the season yet, he's just trying to get to 5-4 by the break.

Was he? He looked pretty ****ed when Zappe went in.

 

[PatsFan2]

Even after the bad loss last night, I expect us to come out against the Jets and play well. Don't be surprised if we end up winning this week.

With Zappe who gives us the Best chance to win. Let's get that clear Ash. A moral victory against the Jets won't cut it for a last place Team.

 

[ashley]

With Zappe who gives us the Best chance to win. Let's get that clear Ash. A moral victory against the Jets won't cut it for a last place Team.

We're not sure who is starting, but I would think it's going to be Mac. Correct, no moral victories against the Jets.

 

[slash83]

With Zappe who gives us the Best chance to win. Let's get that clear Ash. A moral victory against the Jets won't cut it for a last place Team.

Moral victory or not, just win baby.