Alright, so in light of the news that Jones is likely to start once healthy, I will eat some crow. I still stand by my opinion that Zappe has been the better quarterback this season in the games he has played, both statistically and to the subjective eye-test. However, I acknowledge that when it comes to following the process - which BB is big on - along with long-term planning/hedging, and finally fundamental notions of fairness to Jones, I can understand the decision to give him a shot to respond.
A TLDR I posted below on the PatsPulpit comment section that I'm pasting here, analyzing my whole thoughts on the situation. Some folks will get a couple bullets in and start furiously typing to shoot Zappe down and/or defend Jones' honor, but please read the entirety of the post before getting too worked up.
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- Zappe has been the better QB this season in the games he has played in. He has demonstrated traits intrinsic to the QB position that have little-to-nothing to do with level of competition: Eye usage, pocket presence, field vision, decision making, poise, footwork, accuracy, velocity/driving the ball.
- To my eye, peak Zappe over the past couple weeks looked better than anything I saw from Jones, this season or last. That said, 2-1/2 games is a much smaller sample size than 20+, which is a fair consideration.
- In a way that's difficult to fully articulate - but you know it when you see it - the offense has had much better timing and rhythm under Zappe. He has, to my eye, done a better job of getting the ball to the right players at the right time and utilizing the talent around him.
- Zappe has turned in the performances he has despite not having an offseason/training camp to prepare as the starter and without many starting reps. To me, his quality of play given the lack of preparation leads me to believe he may in fact have the more upside/potential.
- Jones - based on his time investment, the effort he's made to improve, and his greater experience - deserves the right to respond. To lose your job due to injury after the investment he has made would be unfortunate and could potentially send the wrong message, especially given the efforts he has made to improve/help the team, and the fact that he is a 2nd-year player while Zappe is a rookie. How Jones responds will be critical to his future.
- Allowing Jones to respond is the better long-term hedge, because naming Zappe the starter now, then having things implode and returning to Jones, is much more difficult than letting Jones respond and having to sit him for Zappe, should Jones not play well enough.
- BB made a comment that the two's performances are not being evaluated relative to each other, and that basically tells me that Jones is still viewed to be in a developmental window where they are giving him the chance to improve and evolve his game in his 2nd season, rather than directly comparing their quarterbacks' respective performances and making a decision based on that.
- Jones should not become the status quo starter again. He should get the opportunity to start and respond, and his job security should be contingent on his quality of play.
- The leash should be much shorter. Mistakes, screw-ups, turnovers, etc, should not be tolerated to the extent they were before.
- Not only should the leash be shorter, but the standard must be raised. Status quo Jones' performances should not be adequate to hold the job.
- Even if Jones is not turning the ball over and the team is winning, if he continues to have the same issues with decision making, shaky pocket presence/poise, lack of stepping into throws / lack of driving the ball, too many floaters (especially towards the boundary and over the middle), missing underneath defenders, dropping his eyes and squaring his hips when rushed, and struggles to operate the offense with good timing/rhythm, he should not hold the job by default.
- Jones must elevate his game, because his counterpart - thrust into a remarkably difficult position with exponentially less experience/preparation - just raised the bar.
- I'll give the coaching staff the benefit of the doubt in their approach to this situation, and I will give Jones some time to elevate his game. He deserves that right based on his work ethic and leadership - he is clearly very well liked in the locker-room and that is not lost on me.
- If Jones does not elevate his game beyond what we've seen so far, he should not be the starter for very long. If not this season, certainly a legitimate, head-to-head, 1-to-1 QB competition should occur next offseason should we continue to get status quo Jones.
