Bailey Zappe Reveals New England Patriots Starting QB vs. Pittsburgh Steelers?

New England Patriots quarterback Bailey Zappe indicated that coach Bill Belichick has made the identity of the team’s starter ‘pretty clear’ for their Week 14 matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

FOXBORO — The New England Patriots have taken a pseudo-passive approach to revealing the identity of their starting quarterback in recent weeks. 

Yet, with Thursday night’s matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers rapidly approaching, Pats quarterback Bailey Zappe came as close to confirming the team’s Week 14 “QB1” without stealing the thunder of coach Bill Belichick. 

“Coach has made it pretty clear to us,” Zappe said with a grin while speaking with reporters on Tuesday. “But, I’ll let him announce it to everybody.” 

Despite starting each of New England’s 11 games this season, incumbent starter Mac Jones yielded the reins to Zappe for the foreseeable future prior to New England’s 6-0 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 13. Making his first start of the season, Zappe was unable to provide a much-needed offensive spark, thus leading the Pats to a scoreless effort against the Bolts. Though he turned in a few noteworthy throws — the best of which came on a 21-yard completion to Parker on a third-quarter second-and-5 — his struggles with accuracy doomed the Pats progress on more than one occasion. 

Overall, Zappe exhibited greater downfield vision and better protection of the football than Jones. However, the 24-year-old’s tendency to hold on to the ball led to his taking five sacks, including back-to-back takedowns in the fourth quarter, which knocked New England out of field goal range. He finished the contest having completed 13 of 25 passes for 141 yards and no touchdowns while rushing four times for 16 yards.

New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones (10) and quarterback Bailey Zappe (4) in the field to warm up before the start of the game against the Los Angeles Chargers at Gillette Stadium / Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Ultimately, Zappe’s performance was sufficient enough to warrant his place as New England’s starter for at least one more week. As such, the Pats offensive coaching staff must find a way to accentuate the positive — a process at which Belichick himself hinted just one day earlier. 

"I thought he did some good things," Belichick said on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show on Monday. "Obviously, we didn't produce any points offensively, so that wasn't good. That wasn't just him. That's everybody. We've got to do a better job there, but no turnovers from the quarterback position, and there were some positive plays. We just need to make more."

Belichick Praises Zappe Despite Patriots' Shutout Loss

As he enters a short week of preparation for the Steelers, Zappe acknowledged that while he was pleased with the “operation [of the offense] as a whole” against the Chargers, he will be working hard to improve his accuracy and ball placement. Still, with just over 48 hours until kickoff, the process will be greatly accelerated. Accordingly, the Pats quarterback will be taking each lesson in stride — and in due time. 

“Control what you can control,” Zappe said. “That’s what we say around here. I’m not really big into those things. I’m really cool, calm and collected.”

Barring a surprise Belichickian bombshell, Zappe will be taking the first snap as New England’s starter against the Steelers — who face their own quarterback conundrum. Starter Kenny Pickett underwent ankle surgery Monday morning and will miss this Week 14 contest in the Steel City. He will be replaced by Mitch Trubisky and backed up by Mason Rudolph, with former Patriots Trace McSorley serving as an option on the practice squad.

The Patriots and Steelers are set for an 8:15 p.m. ET kickoff from Acrisure Stadium on Thursday night. 

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