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Zappe has played well in his two outings. (PHOTO: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
Now Jones is finding out how fickle fans in New England can be.\u00a0 While he’s been sidelined, he’s likely watched as they’ve become enamored in Bailey Zappe the same way they did with him after two showings from the rookie that were similar to what we saw early on from Jones.\u00a0 Zappe has dinked and dunked his way to one win on Sunday and nearly had another the week before, while also having thrown just one interception.<\/p>\n
Jones’ injury and Zappe’s performance through two games have essentially already split the fan base, with one side having seemingly turned the page on the former Alabama quarterback, while the other believes Zappe’s done well, but he did it with a vanilla offense with the advantage of teams not yet having any real film on him.<\/p>\n
At the same time, there’s also no question that the playcalling has evolved quite a bit since week one and even more so since the week three loss against the Ravens.\u00a0 The operation has been smoother with a better mix of plays and the results clearly reflect that, even if last week’s outcome against Green Bay didn’t quite end the way we wanted it to.\u00a0 One would have to think that the same changes will benefit Jones when he does come back, especially considering that four of his five picks have all come while targeting the same player.<\/p>\n
Some will make the argument that Jones has had a couple of throws where he was fortunate it didn’t result in another turnover.\u00a0 Anyone who has watched this team for the last 20-years is also likely aware the same could be said for Tom Brady.\u00a0 Even the best will occasionally make a mistake, and sometimes a little luck isn’t exactly a bad thing.<\/p>\n
The numbers already point to improvement. Jones started out last season completing 135-of-190 (71.1%) for 1243-yards, 5 TDs and 5 INTs through five games. Over the course of their final 12 games, the interception total dropped and he completed 217-for-331 (65.6%) for 2558-yards, 17 TDs and 8 INTs. So the more comfortable he became, the better he played and the turnover rate clearly dropped off.<\/p>\n
Still, what Zappe has done should potentially be enough to elevate him over Brian Hoyer, who lasted just 10 minutes in Green Bay before being forced out of the game with a head injury.\u00a0 That ended up being sort of a good scenario for the veteran considering he left having completed 5-of-6 (83.3%) for 37yds and seemed to have a good handle on what they were doing.\u00a0 As a result, there were no black marks added to his resume, which as we know has been sort of an issue when it came to getting 60-minutes of mistake-free football from him.<\/p>\n
At the end of the day, the Patriots have the benefit of two guys who thus far have shown are capable NFL signal-callers and for anyone looking to make a rash decision, it doesn’t make much sense.\u00a0 Truthfully, there’s just not enough data from either of these guys to really know who or what they’ll become just yet.\u00a0 Jones showed enough last year where he deserves the benefit of the doubt, although Bill Belichick has emphasized repeatedly over the last few days how crucial ball security is, which will likely have Jones on a short leash when he does get back out there.<\/p>\n
At the same time, considering most of those turnovers have come on targets to one player, how Parker is viewed moving forward will likely change.\u00a0 Unless he’s wide open, we can probably expect Jones to look elsewhere.\u00a0 But given how much better the offensive line has played and how far the ground game has evolved, as well as how much of a factor play-action, a staple of Jones’ game, has evolved, things should be better.<\/p>\n
Having been sidelined the last couple of weeks, Jones probably already has some additional perspective and appreciation for where he is.\u00a0 Unfortunately, he’s also likely aware that in just two weeks he’s gone from being “the guy” to a player who is seemingly back to square one and will need to once again prove himself when he does eventually get back out there.<\/p>\n
As a result, the good news is it’s becoming clear the Patriots do have a capable player behind Jones, which should potentially give them some return on that investment at some point.\u00a0 Now it’s up to Jones to prove that holding the clipboard is where Zappe belongs.\u00a0 Because if he doesn’t, the “Zappe” chants at Gillette Stadium will only continue with a fan base that certainly isn’t happy with being back at the bottom of the AFC East.<\/p>\n
Needless to say, welcome to the reality that is playing in New England, Mac.\u00a0 And good luck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It appears the honeymoon with Mac Jones is over, with the former first-round pick quickly finding out what it’s like to be an athlete in New England.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":38300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,10,23152],"tags":[22991,22264,44],"class_list":["post-43342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patriots-commentary","category-patriots-news","category-pf","tag-bailey-zappe","tag-mac-jones","tag-new-england-patriots"],"yoast_head":"\n