By In a season where little has gone right in Foxborough, Sure, the 2023 Patriots were still a long way away from fielding a competitive roster. But the sight of Bailey Zappe orchestrating a second-half comeback on the road — and Chad Ryland booting a game-winning field goal 56 yards through the thin, chilled air in Denver — offered up a feeling that the roots of a retooled roster were perhaps already in place in New England. Despite getting cut at the end of training camp, Zappe’s recent reign as New England’s QB1 has offered up stronger returns than anything drummed up by Mac Jones this season.
The Patriots’ two road wins in Zappe’s first four appearances as the team’s starting quarterback might have seemingly pushed them out of contention for a top-two pick in the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft. But perhaps New England could trudge ahead with Zappe under center next fall, especially if the team uses that coveted first-round pick (and plenty of cap space) to shore up other areas of a broken offense. But much like the post-holiday blues that sprout up every year, Patriots fans received a much-needed jolt of reality on Sunday of what’s to come in 2024 if the franchise doesn’t make a drastic move under center this offseason.
Because for all of the flaws and talent deficiencies currently found on this Patriots offense, this franchise is destined to be mired in cellar-dwelling purgatory for the long haul if it doesn’t come out of this dreadful 2023 campaign with a top QB prospect to build around. While Zappe should earn plenty of credit for sparking what was looking like a completely inept offensive unit down the stretch, he’s far from the answer for a team severely lacking in terms of steady QB play since a certain signal-caller left in March 2020. And yes, it’s unfair to compare any QB — even a top prospect like USC’s Caleb Williams or UNC’s Drake Maye — to the primary architect of a two-decade dynasty.
on Sunday stood as the latest in a long line of games over the last few years where a hard-fought win slipped just through New England’s grasp due to inconsistent offensive execution. As has been the case all season, New England’s defense kept the Patriots in the fight at Highmark Stadium. But few teams have the means to walk out of a rival venue after coughing up four turnovers in the first half — directly leading to 20 points for the opposition.
Despite relinquishing three interceptions on New England’s first six drives of the afternoon, Zappe deserves some praise for staying in the fight. He orchestrated a pair of drives stretching over 70 yards in the second and fourth quarter en route to a pair of rushing scores. But it was too little, too late for a quarterback who has continued to struggle with putting together a full 60-minute performance under center.
“[Chiefs game] it was the first half, Denver game, the second half, this game was the second half,” Zappe said. “We’re playing good, we’re just, we’re not putting two halves together, entire offensive executing together, communication-wise and all those things. I mean, if you take away those four turnovers, what happens, who knows.
Can’t go back and change it, just got to move on get ready for another great team, another great defense in the Jets. ” New England isn’t looking at a quick-fix offseason, not with the amount of holes present across key areas of the team’s depth chart. But yet another stagnant stretch from the Patriots’ offense once again reinforced the fact that this franchise isn’t going anywhere if it doesn’t add a promising QB to the mix.
And against all odds, New England still finds itself in the mix to potentially select a QB like Williams, Maye or even LSU’s Jayden Daniels thanks to Matt Patricia and a suddenly sputtering Eagles team. , New England moved up to No. 3 after its loss in Buffalo and the Cardinals’ shocking upset win over the Eagles on Sunday.
The Patriots can even slip ahead of Washington at No. 2, given that there’s a razor-thin margin separating both teams’ strength-of-schedule — the first tiebreaker used to determine draft order. Yes, there are other avenues that New England can take this offseason beyond honing in on Williams, Maye, or Daniels.
The Patriots could opt to bolster their offense by drafting a stud tackle or wideout — using a later pick to select another signal caller like Michael Penix Jr. , Bo Nix, or J. J.
McCarthy. New England could also use its hefty cap space , be it Russell Wilson, Kirk Cousins, or Baker Mayfield. But searching for a potential franchise QB further down in the draft invites more risk of lackluster returns — while investing in a veteran signal-caller offers only short-term gains for a franchise looking for a sustainable winning product.
As New England reaches a merciful end to the most painful season in recent memory, the Patriots need to make months of misery count. Even if it means an ugly slog of a loss to the Jets at Gillette Stadium next Sunday, that pain will be lessened in record time if the Patriots break camp with their potential QB of the future in July. Any other half-measured approach is only setting this team (and a laboring fanbase) up for more pain in the years ahead.
A beleaguered Patriots fan base may not be the only group hoping for a new promising young QB at the helm this summer. How about a tenacious New England defense that has rarely been rewarded this season due to miscues on the other side of the ball? New England’s defense made life miserable for Josh Allen and the Bills on Sunday. Allen only completed seven of his 20 pass attempts for just 48 yards in the first half, with rookie corner Alex Austin picking him off in the second quarter.
It was an impressive game for Austin, who was cut by the Bills out of training camp this summer. Austin, who nearly recorded another pick in New England’s win over the Broncos earlier this month, has impressed in limited action amid New England’s string of injuries in its secondary. That first career pick is a beauty, Alex Austin 👏 📺: on CBS New England’s stingy run defense also didn’t budge against a 1,000-yard rusher in James Cook, holding him to just 3.
0 yards per carry on 16 total attempts. And yet, another gutsy showing for a unit without several game-changers available like Matt Judon, Christian Gonzalez, and Jabrill Peppers had little to show for their efforts yet again. “We’re putting them in an impossible position,” David Andrews said of the defense.
“Obviously, last week, started the game [with a fumble], and then they made a great stand and to make it stands they did this week … they can’t do anything about the pick 6, but when we put them out there, I mean, you know, how many points did we allow … off the turnovers. “They were playing their tails off, and that’s more on us than it is on them, and they kept us in the game. ” New England’s O-line had a rough go of it against Ed Oliver and a potent Bills pass rush — with Buffalo recording three sacks and delivering eight QB hits in against Zappe.
Trent Brown likely could have helped New England’s pass protection at his usual spot at left tackle, but New England opted to tab him as a healthy inactive on Sunday. As expected, Bill Belichick didn’t budge when pressed about Brown’s availability. “We played the players we wanted to play,” Belichick said postgame.
It was a costly absence for Brown. the veteran tackle will not earn any of his $6. 5 million in playing-time incentives after missing another game.
on Sunday that New England struggled to keep Brown motivated since he lost money on playing time incentives, while Mike Giardi of Boston Sports Journal offered more insight into what is shaping up to be an end for Brown’s tenure in Foxborough. “Internally, I’m told, there was belief Brown could have returned before (Week 12) and did not,” “The belief was that he was protecting himself and his future earnings in a season without the promise of a postseason. With the number of players on the roster who were playing through injuries — including those on the offensive line — needless to say, that hasn’t gone over very well.
” Despite playing at a high level earlier this season, Brown’s availability and work ethic invites far too much risk for New England to sign him to big money this offseason — especially at such a critical area of the roster. Most of the praise for New England’s 2023 draft class has usually centered around first-round pick Christian Gonzalez and sixth-round selection Demario Douglas. Douglas (three catches, 31 yards on Sunday) continued to climb up the team record books on Sunday.
The shifty wideout of Liberty now has the most receptions (47) and receiving yards (548) for a Patriots rookie wide receiver under Belichick. But second-round selection Keion White is looking more and more like a building block for the future on the defensive line. While Christian Barmore has been a bull in a china shop over the second half of the 2023 season, White has been a thorn in the side of opposing QBs this winter as well.
White recorded two quarterback hits and four pressures against Allen on Sunday. Despite all of the promise showcased with youngsters like Gonzalez, White, and Douglas — the same can’t be said with fourth-round pick Chad Ryland. Despite lifting New England to a last-second win over the Broncos last week with a clutch, 56-yard kick, Ryland missed two field-goal attempts on Sunday against the Bills.
Ryland is now just 15-for-24 on field-goal attempts this year, with seven of those nine misses coming from inside 50 yards. Get breaking news and analysis delivered to your inbox during football season. Be civil.
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From: bostonglobe
URL: https://www.boston.com/sports/new-england-patriots/2023/12/31/new-england-patriots-2024-draft-quarterback-bailey-zappe-bills-drake-maye/
