TRANSCRIPT: Bailey Zappe Speaks to Reporters 5/29
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Here’s what Patriots quarterback Bailey Zappe had to say when he spoke to reporters on Wednesday:
On asking him a question with Jacoby Brissett standing behind him:
“I think he left. Okay. But it’s been great to have Jacobi around. We’ve only been around each other for what, a month now? But I’ve learned a lot of things from him, especially in this offense. He was in it for one year. Just picking his brain as far as the footwork stuff, how he reads certain concepts, and things like that. I’m always picking his brain. I’ll probably get annoying, but I’m going to keep doing it. But it’s good to have a guy like that in the room that’s played a lot, that’s been around to lead for a long time. So it’s been great.”
On what the offseason has been like given Brissett’s signing, the club drafting two quarterbacks, etc:
“I’ve been having fun, y’all. You know, they bring in guys every year, obviously. They want everybody to compete, and that’s what they’ve been telling us this entire time, that everybody’s going to get an opportunity, everybody’s going to compete. Like [coach Jerod] Mayo says, it depends on what you do with that opportunity. As far as I speak for the QB room, we’re a close-knit group so far. We’ve only been together for a few weeks, but everybody likes each other. Everybody’s getting along. Everybody’s helping each other. If Drake has a question or if Joe has a question, I have a question, everybody’s there to help. And if Jacoby has questions, I don’t know, but everybody’s there to help each other out.”
On if the situation can potentially be a little awkward:
“I guess you could say it’s awkward, probably like the first few times you meet each other because you don’t really know each other yet. But once you get to know each other, you understand that everybody has the same common goal, and that’s to win games. Obviously, we all want to go out there. We all want to be the quarterback. We all want to be the starter. But there’s only one guy that can go out there, and all of us that aren’t out there are going to help that guy no matter what.”
On the fact he mentioned footwork before and with Alex Van Pelt, it seems like a big thing, and whether he’s done that before along with how it helps:
“Yeah, I mean, obviously it helps. The better you get your footwork down, the better timing it is as far as certain routes and certain concepts. You don’t feel as rushed, and you don’t feel as you’re late or something like that. The feet time up with the route. There’s been minor changes to what I’ve done in the past to what AVP likes, but it’s been a smooth transition. Obviously, he’s played the game, so he understands how to describe it to you and how to show you how to do it. So it’s been a smooth transition as far as footwork stuff, and I like it, so makes it easy.”
On whether or not his mindset is still to compete for the top job:
“I mean, that’s what I’ve been told, so that’s what I’m going to keep doing.”
On if it’s been hard to put that in the forefront knowing they paid Brissett $8-10 million to come here, the fact Maye was picked third overall, and he’s a fourth round pick:
“Yeah, I’m not making as much of those guys. No, I don’t view it as that way. They’ve told all of us that there’s going to be a competition. Everybody’s going to have the opportunity to go out there and prove that they can be that guy. All four of us are going to do our best to do that. And whoever gets that job, the other three of us are going to help that guy do whatever he can on the field to win games.”
On if he likes the structure with a veteran like Brissett and a rookie like Maye, if it helps in that collaboration given that in past years, it was just younger guys overall?
“Obviously, it’s nice to have an old head in … not old. He’s 31, whatever. Older than me. It’s nice to have a guy like that, obviously, in the room. I’m still going. I’ve only started eight games. Drake’s coming in, and he’s a rookie. Joe’s a rookie. They haven’t played any. So we’re all still young term starting games. So to have a guy like that, started however many games, to pick his brain has been great. So it hasn’t been any problems. And it’s awesome to just have a guy like that that you can kind of lean on and talk ball about. I did mention there could be awkwardness.”
On him being the “elephant in the room” and if it’s something that’s out in the open:
“To be honest with you, I don’t think it’s ever really came up in a conversation. I think we all love ball. We all want to win, and that’s been the conversations by itself. We all get along well. It really hasn’t been any true awkwardness. Like I said, maybe like the first couple of days you meet each other because you don’t really know each other. But right now, it’s running smooth and it’s a great quarterbacke room.
On what it’s like watching Joe Milton throw the ball so far:
“I mean, It’s impressive. That guy could throw the rock. It makes me wonder what I didn’t do when I was growing up as far as workouts and stuff. But we’ll do a quarterback competition, I’m sure, as far as throwing the ball. We’ll hang with it.”
On if he’s ever thrown an orange, or if he’s seen that video (of Milton doing it):
“I’ve never thrown an orange.”
On the fact he said he’s out here to prove himself and if he thinks he proved himself last fall in the way he played:
“In some aspects, yes. There are some things that I did, personally, that I feel I did really good, and there’s some things that I feel I did really bad at. Those things, obviously, throughout the summer that I’ve been continuing to work on. I’ve been with AVP, been with T.C. [McCartney], even talked to Jacoby about some of those things, how I can fix those things and not have them happen and cost us games because you look back at it, the mistakes that I made cost us wins. Just talking to those guys and just trying to fix those things and show that I am improving in that aspect of my game.”
On how much of a role Ben McAdoo has in all this and what he’s been helping them with:
“He’s just another voice in the room. We have great coaches in that QB room. The fun fact about him is when I was coming out in ’21, I had my top 30 visit with him at the Panthers. So, we already had a relationship coming in, so we hit the ground running. Like I said, he’s been around the league for a long time. Coached a lot of great quarterbacks, so just picking his brain, just like I pick AVP’s brain.”
On the footwork and what he’s been getting out of it:
“Yeah, so the main part about it all is keeping your eyes up and not looking down at your feet, not stumbling over your own feet, because when you’re in the pocket, you’re not looking down. There’s guys running around you. There’s legs flying everywhere. There’s people falling. You can’t look down because once you look down, then you lose sight of everything going on. So that’s kind of the big thing of the colors. And then also sometimes you might see us doing numbers where McAdoo or AVP will walk around flashing numbers, and we have to call out those numbers as we’re going through the drills. And that just helps you keeping your eyes up because that’s what you have to do in a game.”
On how competitive it gets when he and the guys are all throwing into the net there:
“Oh, yeah. There’s a little smack-talking going on, obviously. Obviously, yeah. We keep count. It’s kind of a friendly competition. I think I’m winning. I’m sure everybody else has their own opinion on it, but it’s fun. It’s a fun competition, and just everybody getting better.”
On who is the worst at the smack talk:
“The worst at the smack? Probably … I don’t know. Everybody has their fair share. I don’t think anybody’s bad at it. I think everybody’s got a pretty good… They can sling some stuff at you.”
(Editor’s Note: This transcript is done via the available footage and is subject to typos. If you spot something, please take a moment to let me know in the comments below.)
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