Zappe did not play well today, but at this point he’s better than Mac. But before demonize him to much, we need to recall just who he is and where he came from.
Bailey went to a subdivision college, Div. 1AA for you old school fans. He was picked in the fourth round as a project player. He wasn’t even supposed to see the field in meaningful games his rookie year. He was a third string bench warmer that got thrust into action because of injuries to Mac & Hoyer. Patriot fans are quick to point out that although he was serviceable in a couple starts it was against bottom tier NFL defenses. Bottom tier schottom tier: 99% of the players from Conference USA will never get a look in the NFL and 75% aren’t good enough for CFL or XFL. Zappe exceeded expectations just by being serviceable.
Today was his first start in second year. For a guy that’s literally only had one week to prepare as a starter since midway thru last year, with a lousy O line and ineffective WRsin non stop rain he didn’t do that bad. It’s reasonable to wonder if he might do better with a half decent rookie that was injured this week. Did he do good? No, but he’s clearly better than Mac at this point.
“Zero points against a bad chargers D!!”
- Driving rain all game really hurt offense
- Mondre going down early was awful for the run game
- Herbert had no TDs and his WRs dropped tons of stuff, including Keenan Allen who last I checked was pretty good
- Zappe had worse field position all game, with drives starting inside the 10
“Zappe didn’t score” is a valid reason to say he has no future as an NFL starter. It does NOT mean he is better than Mac, who was shutout in non-rainstorm conditions against the saints, in a half against the Giants, and scored 3 against Dallas. Mac has been shutout more times this season than Zappe as a starter.