Giardi: Patriots fail to take care of the ball and pay the price

Bailey Zappe has proven to be many things in his nearly two seasons with the Patriots. 

• Confident bordering on cocky
• Gunslinger mentality
• Surprising as a leader. Undoubtedly, some of the improved play by those around him relates to the "Anyone but Mac" philosophy that permeated the locker room in late September. Still, it's also clear that there's more belief in the second-year pro's ability to inspire with his play and words.
• Adept in the pocket with improving footwork
• Physically tough. Zappe's been limping after two of the last three games, but you'd have to kidnap him to keep him out of the lineup.

"I'm good," Zappe said after the loss to Buffalo. "I love playing football, so whenever I'm sore, it reminds me I'm playing. So I'm happy."

But for Zappe to remain in what surely will be a different-looking quarterback room next season - regardless of who's coaching the football team - he will have to do a better job of taking care of the football. 

Yesterday, his three first-half interceptions didn't solely fall on him - the other guys get paid, too - but minus any elite physical traits, Zappe's path to a long NFL career will involve giving his team a boost by playing intelligently and decreasing the turnovers - he's got five interceptions and two fumbles in five starts.

"You can't win football games when you turn the ball over," noted Zappe. "It's kind of like the same thing the last few weeks … we're not putting two halves together."

FIRST INTERCEPTION

The Patriots coughed up the football on their first offensive play for the second straight game. Not great. Not great at all. My view of the play: Zappe wanted to get the ball out quickly to Pharoah Brown, but the big tight end didn't snap his head around fast enough. The quarterback moved to his second read, fellow tight end Mike Gesicki, but credit to Rasul Douglas for being well-prepared for how the Pats have approached games early with Zappe. He closed quickly on the hitch route, getting a piece of the football. Then Ed Oliver showed why he was a top-10 pick several years ago with an incredibly athletic play made by a 285-pound defensive tackle. Could Zappe have thrown the ball a little lower? Perhaps. Should Gesicki have attacked the ball with a little more vigor? He should have, especially seeing where the defenders were when he slapped on the brakes. 

SECOND INTERCEPTION

This was a bad read by Zappe. The safety, Micah Hyde, never vacated the area, and Rasul Douglas was already positioned inside DeVante Parker. The throw had disaster written all over from the moment Zappe cocked his arm. I'm also going to ding Parker here. Once again, it would be nice for a veteran receiver to understand where the defender was. Instead, he stays married to his route, then makes minimal effort to break up the pass—a reminder: the wide receiver room needs to be blown to smithereens. 

THIRD INTERCEPTION

Oh, Jalen Reagor. This wasn't hard. At all. The Bills show they're sending pressure from the offensive right. Protection is adjusted, leaving Zappe knowing full well he will have a rusher unaccounted for and in his face. It is incumbent on Reagor, who's in year four of his career, to recognize this and adjust his route. He is clueless, and not only does it lead to an easy interception by Douglas but also a defensive score (by my count, that's four this year). Reagor wouldn't take the blame for it postgame, and Zappe wouldn't throw his receiver under the bus, only indicating that it was a miscommunication.

As Zappe has shown in his brief tenure, he did an excellent job rebounding from the errors - his own and others - but when the offense lacks high-end talent, it proved too much to overcome once again.

"It's football," said Zappe. "Things like that are going to happen. You're going to have turnovers. You're going to throw three interceptions in a game. But it's just how you respond. It's how you come back in that next series and how you play. I felt like we did great as an offense in the second half coming back. We kind of flushed everything, and we came out together and played a great second half. It just wasn't enough because of what we did in the first half."