Not ready to name starting quarterback

FOXBOROUGH — Bill Belichick’s phrase of the day was, “I’ve told everybody to be ready.” The Patriots coach used a variation of it roughly a dozen times Tuesday as reporters asked questions about the quarterback situation.

Has Belichick decided who the starting quarterback will be on Sunday against the Giants?

“I’ve told all the players the same thing, be ready to go. So, hopefully they will be,” said Belichick.

With Mac Jones coming off of his third benching in 10 games and Bailey Zappe completing just 40 percent of his passes this season, is there a chance Malik Cunningham could see some action?

“I told every player to be ready to play,” said Belichick. “So, we’ll see how things go, and we’ll go from there.”

At what point in the week should the team know its starting quarterback?

“Everybody needs to be ready to go. So, that’s where we are for today,” Belichick said. “Today’s Tuesday, go out there, be prepared, be ready to take advantage of their opportunities. Then, we’ll go to Wednesday.”

There has been no confirmation from Belichick or offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien about who will start.

There’s a chance it could be Jones again. The Patriots have started him every game this season no matter the results.

Could the interception late in the Nov. 12 loss to the Colts in Germany have been a tipping point? Then there’s Zappe, who replaced Jones for the final possession of the Colts game.

Zappe has completed 10 of 25 passes in three games this season for 4.2 yards per attempt, with no touchdowns and one interception. Those numbers are a massive step back from last year, when he completed more than 70.7 percent of his attempts and threw five TD passes and three interceptions in four games.

O’Brien said Jones, Zappe, and Will Grier — who the Patriots signed Sept. 22 and has not seen game action — have all gotten reps in practice.

While explaining Grier’s reps, Belichick said that the bye week presented an opportunity for players who haven’t played much to show what they can do.

“That was true for everybody across the board,” Belichick said. “We didn’t work on any scout team plays, we just ran our plays. So, everybody got to run what we ran. We had some guys who were out there, some guys weren’t out there. A lot of the guys who have played a lot didn’t practice as much.”

Asked if there are enough reps in practice to choose between quarterbacks, Belichick said, “Everybody needs to be ready to go. You saw what happened [to the Giants] in the Dallas game. [Daniel] Jones went out, [Tommy] DeVito went in. That could happen on the first play of the game. It could happen in the middle of the game.

“Everybody needs to be ready to go. That’s our job right now, to prepare the team to play well on Sunday. That’s all of them. Not one of them, not two of them, but all the guys.”

Giant opportunity

There’s only one place where the Patriots are undefeated this season, and that’s MetLife Stadium. They beat the Jets there for their first win of the season on Sept. 24.

On Sunday, the Patriots return to East Rutherford, N.J., to face the Giants.

Safety Jabrill Peppers ,aNew Jersey native who played three seasons with the Giants before signing with the Patriots in 2022, said he’s excited to face his former team.

“I know those guys. [Brian] Daboll is a great coach, so it’s going to be a hard-hitting chess piece,” Peppers said. “He was here, he was in Buffalo, so he knows us pretty well. We’re excited for the opportunity to get the bad taste out of our mouths and refocus after the bye. We just need a good week of work and to go out and execute.

“Based on the history of those two franchises and the fact that Daboll was here, it’s probably going to feel like a division game because they don’t do exactly what the Bills do, but it’s from that. It’s from that tree.”

Perfect attendance

There were no absences at practice. Offensive tackle Trent Brown returned after missing the game against the Colts because of personal reasons.