If you were hoping Bill O'Brien would spill the beans about a quarterback change, sorry to disappoint. During his Monday morning press conference, the Patriots offensive coordinator kept the waters very muddy, indicating that all three signal callers took first-team reps during the one practice before the bye week.
"For me, I basically get everybody ready to play," he said. "And so at the end of the day, Bill (Belichick) will make that decision at some point, and we'll go from there. But I do believe that we have to continue like we do all the time to earn it on the practice field, coaches and players."
If you think, like I do, that it's best to sit Mac Jones, then that final sentence should concern you. At no point during the spring or summer has Bailey Zappe or anyone else been able to do enough to prove they deserve a real opportunity. And as I wrote last week, the work Jones puts in during the week, the amount of film study, has allowed him to maintain his grasp on the gig despite being pulled in 30% of the team's games thus far (that's gotta be some sort of record). The only way to derail that would be to hand the keys over to someone else just because it's time, not because of how well or poorly someone performs in a November practice.
“One of the reasons why I really enjoy coaching here is you have to earn it on a practice field,” O’Brien reiterated. “I think the way that we practice here, there’s plenty of reps to go around. I mean, can you do it with four guys? Three guys? No. But for two guys, there are enough reps to go around. Everybody gets a shot at it. I don’t think that’s an issue at all.”
O'Brien's boss, Bill Belichick, has downplayed Will Grier's status with the team for weeks, citing how few reps he's gotten and that most of those are coming as a scout team quarterback, which means he's operating off cards. The last time Grier got real game action was in 2019. Diamond in the rough? Unlikely. So that would seem to mean we're looking at a two-horse race: the incumbent, Mac, versus last year's upstart, Zappe.
Zappe won a couple of starts last year, and a fair amount of you got the "fevah." But the second-year QB didn't impress O'Brien in the spring, summer, and even now, in the fall, completing 40% of his passes in mop-up duty and the "hey, go win us this ballgame in Germany" moment two Sundays ago. Zappe's attitude has annoyed some in the building as well, and if we've learned anything over the years, those folks can hold a grudge.
Meanwhile, Jones has had a brutal season. He's near the bottom of the league in almost every statistical category, whether you want to look at the old standards or the advanced nerd numbers. And because one of my favorite Twitter followers passed this along, I wanted to share: In Mac's last seven starts, he's thrown 5 TDs, 8 interceptions, fumbled twice, and been sacked 19 times.
'Leave Mac alone. His line sucks,' they shout.
By comparison, Tommy DeVito, who looked like the worst QB in the world just a few weeks ago, has two career starts with 5 TD passes, 1 interception, and 14 sacks.
'Line issues? Hold my chicken parm,' he replies.
DeVito has been more potent than your former first-rounder, and he's not exactly throwing to a collection of future Hall of Famers either. However, O'Brien would like to remind us all of something.
“I think that’s what we have to remember: at times this year, Mac has played really well,” O’Brien said. "And I also think that it’s really important to point out that there’s 10 other guys on the field, and everybody’s gotta play better. And there are coaches on the sideline; we all have to coach better. That’s the truth.
O'Brien added, “I don’t believe in yips or anything like that. Mac has played well; Mac will play well again."
So, while the offensive coordinator wouldn't share his thoughts on who should play Sunday against DeVito and those Giants, it sure sounds like he's leaning in Mac's direction. That won't play very well in the locker room, but at this point, maybe none of those guys have played well enough to have an opinion. I guess we'll soon find out.