Patriots Moving Up With Bailey Zappe: NFL Power Rankings

Where do the Patriots stack up in Sports Illustrated's latest NFL Power Rankings?

After five weeks of the 2022 NFL season, the contenders are beginning to pull away from the pretenders. The New England Patriots pushed through the adversity of losing their starting quarterback and backup quarterback to snag a big 29-0 win over the Detroit Lions in Week 5.

The Patriots' defense stifled the Lions and quarterback Jared Goff to move to 2-3. New England made six stops on fourth down and registered a defensive touchdown for the second straight week. 

Where do the Patriots stack up in Sports Illustrated's latest NFL Power Rankings following rookie quarterback Bailey Zappe's first career start? After shutting out Detroit, New England lands at ... No. 17.

Says SI:

Bill Belichick doesn’t need to remind everyone that he’s the greatest coach of all time, but playing Jared Goff certainly helps. Something about facing Goff brings out the truly sadistic nature of Belichick the game plan designer. A humbling week for the high-scoring Lions as well. 

“He does a good job of seeing the game and can come off and identify and articulate what he saw, what happened – and that’s usually right,” Belichick said of Zappe after the win last Sunday. “And that goes all the way back to preseason. He played a lot in preseason. I think those snaps were good for him." 

The Patriots hope the old adage, "defense travels well" holds true as they hit the road as 3-point underdogs for a Week 6 matchup against the Cleveland Browns and running back Nick Chubb.

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