Bailey Zappe talks second-half struggles, Bill Belichick’s future and more on WEEI

By Patriots quarterback on Monday evening, touching on topics like his performance in Sunday’s loss to the Chiefs and Bill Belichick’s future in Foxborough. Here are a few highlights from Jones’ extended radio interview: For the second straight week, Zappe revitalized New England’s offense on Sunday thanks to some crisp throws and poised pocket presence. Well, at least for the first half of action .

Even though New England trailed Kansas City 14-10 at the half, Zappe was holding up his end of the bargain. He completed 17 of his 19 passes against a stingy Chiefs defense, throwing for 141 yards and a touchdown. He would have had another TD to Hunter Henry in the second quarter had it not been wiped out by a penalty against New England LT Connor McDermott.

But much like New England’s Week 14 win against the Steelers, Zappe’s strong start gave way to lackluster returns in the second half against KC. Over the final two quarters of play, New England generated just 57 total yards of offense en route to a 27-17 defeat — with Zappe completing just 6-of-12 throws for 39 yards. Zappe’s third-quarter interception thrown right to Kansas City linebacker Willie Gay was a back-breaker.

With the Chiefs already holding a 17-10 lead, Zappe’s poor throw gave KC prime field position in New England’s red zone. Just two plays later, Patrick Mahomes hit Clyde Edwards-Helaire for a six-yard touchdown to make their lead 24-10. “You go back and look at the film, like we did today,” Zappe said on WEEI when asked about his miscues in the second half against the Chiefs.

“And it’s always those certain things that happen. You know, a mistake here or there, like the interception. Instead of throwing it out of bounds, I try to force it.

Had I thrown it out of bounds, who knows how that drive goes. “They get seven points off of that, we lost by 10. You know how the game goes, who knows? So it’s just little things like that, and that’s stuff that’s — it’s easily fixed because it’s just a mental error.

For me, it’s just as easy as throwing the ball out of bounds and going onto 2nd and 10. ” Zappe’s second-half struggles have been tough to ignore since taking over as New England’s QB1. Over his last two games, Zappe has completed 31-of-40 pass attempts with four touchdowns, a 135.

1 rating and zero interceptions in the first half. In the second half? He’s only completed 11 of 19 passes for 83 yards, zero touchdowns, two interceptions, and an unsightly 29. 0 rating.

“To be honest, I think [offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien] called a great game,” Zappe said. “It’s just up to us as players to go out there and execute. And, personally, there’s things that I didn’t execute very well, and that we watched today in film that, this week, we’re going to work on.

We’re going to get out there, pre-practice and post-practice and try to get better at those things. ” New England’s second-half woes and several key penalties at critical stages of Sunday’s game played major roles in the Patriots’ 11th loss of the season. But based on play-calling over the second half against the Chiefs, it doesn’t seem like there was that much urgency for New England to try and manufacture a late-game rally.

After Kansas City made it a 27-10 game with 3:40 left in the third quarter, New England took its foot off the pedal. On the Patriots’ next two drives, Belichick opted to punt on a 4th-and-3 and 4th-and-4 situation, with New England adhering to a conservative gameplan instead of pushing the envelope in search of points. Of course, a late-game comeback in April, so the case can be made that Belichick and Co.

aren’t necessarily inclined to claw back in games when starting at multi-score deficits. But intentionally tanking or throwing aside games isn’t exactly ingrained in Belichick’s DNA, regardless of where his team sits in the standings. “That’s Coach Belichick’s decision,” Zappe said of New England’s by-the-numbers approach on offense in the second half.

“He’s been coaching for however many years. He understands every situational thing that can happen in a game. So whatever he decides, I’m good with.

” Beyond their hesitancy as far as moving the chains in fourth-down situations, New England let the clock drain over several drives in the second half, with RB Ezekiel Elliott noting postgame that the Patriots could have “gone a little faster” in an effort to move the ball down the field. Ezekiel Elliott felt like the Patriots’ offense could have “gone a little faster” down three scores, but that’s all “coulda, woulda, shoulda. ” “At one time, we were back on our six-inch line.

It’s very hard when you’re on your six-inch line to kind of go up-tempo and things like that,” Zappe said of New England’s dearth of high-tempo plays. “You kind of have to get away from your end zone before you kind of start up your two-minute stuff. “Because a lot of things can happen when you’re backed up in your own end zone.

So I don’t think I look back at anything and say, ‘I wish we did that, I wish we did this. ’ I think it just comes down to the execution part of it all. ” With three games separating the 3-11 Patriots from a merciful end to the 2023 season, most of the narratives hovering over Foxborough these days have little to do with the lackluster product on the field.

Rather, the discourse is centered around Bill Belichick’s future in New England and whether or not owner Robert Kraft will opt to move ahead without the legendary head coach after a season where little has gone right. As expected, Belichick has over the last few weeks. And while Zappe didn’t offer up his opinion on the several reports regarding Belichick, he did admit that the team is more than aware of the various rumors regarding their coach.

“I mean, of course — if you’re in social media and you have Twitter and all those things, of course you see all those rumors and everything going around,” Zappe said. “But personally for me, I’m controlling what I can control and that’s getting ready for the Broncos this week. ” Stay up to date on all the latest news from Boston.

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