Belichick won’t announce starting QB
Zappe coming off win, 3-TD performance
It would be a major shock if Bailey Zappe was not the Patriots’ starting quarterback next Sunday against the Chiefs.
But Bill Belichick still won’t announce that decision.
“I’m not gonna get into the future plans right now,” Belichick said Friday morning. “We have a little bit of extra time this weekend. We’ll kind of recalibrate things a little bit. But certainly Bailey’s done a good job. He’s earned playing time. But how exactly that’ll go, we’ll talk about that. I’m not going to announce anything.”
Zappe led the Patriots to their first win on Thursday night since Week 7 when a Mac Jonesled team toppled the Bills. Jones had been benched in two consecutive games and four contests overall before Zappe started his first game of the season last Sunday in a 6-0 loss to the Chargers.
“Everybody will be ready to play. When the players get a chance to play, then they’ll have an opportunity to show they deserve more playing time or maybe somebody moves ahead of them,” Belichick continued.
“We’ll see how it goes. But certainly, he’s done a good job in the two opportunities he’s had to execute the offense. As I said earlier, I don’t think you can put it all on one guy, good or bad. It’s a unit performance and consistency. Certainly, the quarterback’s a big part of that. I’m not saying that. But other people have to perform well, in addition to that. So our our job and our goal is to get the offensive unit performing well. That includes each player. But getting the entire unit performing well and that’s when we’ll have success.”
Zappe, a 2022 fourthround pick, went 19-of-28 for 240 yards with three touchdowns and one interception in the 21-18 win over the Steelers. He had thrown for 198 yards with three touchdowns in the first half before the Patriots simply held on to win in the second half.
It was easily his best performance of the season out of the six appearances he’s made.
“Zappe did some good things,” offensive coordinator Bill O’brien said Friday morning. “He was disciplined. He had good fundamentals. Zap plays the game calmy. He plays the game one play at a time. Overall he just did a nice job.”
The second-year pro was 2-0 as a starter in his rookie season. He’s now 3-1 in his career. The Patriots are likely to be eliminated from playoff contention soon as they stand with a 3-10 record, but Zappe’s performance over the final four weeks of the season could dictate whether the Patriots want to continue working with him. He was released out of training camp and preseason but certainly showed he made strides on Thursday night.
Belichick on Armynavy
With the Patriots’ Week 14 game out of the way, Belichick can direct his full attention to another meaningful matchup in his backyard this weekend.
The annual Army-navy game will take place at Gillette Stadium on Saturday at 3 p.m. Belichick will be involved in the festivities as the guest picker on ESPN’S “College Gameday.”
And it’s the first time in years that Belichick can attend the rivalry game without worrying about planning for his own contest later in the weekend.
“Well, it’s nice. I won’t lie. It’s nice. It’s nice that the schedule fell the way it did,” Belichick said. “I would say most years it doesn’t fall that way. But, the fact that it did and coincided with the game being in Foxboro is nice. I haven’t been able to attend an Army-navy game like this since I was in college.
“Even the ones that I’ve seen, we’ve had a game the next day in Giants Stadium or the Washington game back in 2009. So, there have been a handful of games that I’ve seen. But it all is with having to go to a meeting or something like that. So this is really a nice luxury for me. It’s been a long time since I’ve had an opportunity to do this. I’m very much looking forward to it. I think it will be a great, classic event for this region. There’s really nothing like Armynavy. I’ve been in a lot of big games. I’ve seen a lot of big games. Both collegiately and professionally. But Army-navy is special.”
Belichick called this a “full circle” opportunity and said he’s hopeful for a Navy win. The Patriots head coach grew up in Annapolis, Md., with his father, Steve Belichick, serving as a longtime scout and coach at the Naval Academy.
The Patriots have had a number of players throughout Belichick’s 23-year tenure from Navy. Current long-time long snapper Joe Cardona played at Navy and is an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserves.
“The March On for the Corps of Cadets and the Midshipmen is a pretty impressive thing,” Belichick said. “You look down and you see 4,000 men and women who are training to be our country’s leaders and our country’s defenders in the future. It’s a pretty impressive moment to recognize all those kids as they’re going through the process, and who they’re going to be and what’s going to come out of there. And the training that they’re going through, it makes you very proud to see that. The March On starts about three hours before the game. So, I would recommend that for sure.”
Pats cut RB
The Patriots released running back/wide receiver Ty Montgomery on Friday to make room for ex-eagles linebacker Christian Elliss, whom the team claimed off waivers Thursday.
Elliss is expected to replace Montgomery’s role on special teams. This season, Montgomery played just 42 offensive snaps and 198 on special teams over 14 games. He took three carries for nine yards and caught five passes for 40 yards, while dropping two others.
Montgomery appeared to be at fault on a partial punt block the Patriots allowed Thursday night during their 21-18 win at Pittsburgh. He was replaced on their next punt attempt, and also dropped a pass on offense. The 30-year-old started this season on the practice squad after missing most of last year due to injury.