Patriots
“Yes, it’s a bit of a reverse of what it’s been like the last two years.”
Bailey Zappe Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
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Joe Milton impresses and other takeaways from Patriots’ preseason win over Panthers
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Drake Maye makes QB debut as Patriots, without Bill Belichick, beat Panthers 17-3 in preseason game
Not long ago, New England fans were rooting for Bailey Zappe to replace Mac Jones as New England’s starting quarterback.
He was once called “the most popular man in New England” during ESPN’s broadcast of a Monday Night Football game against the Bears in 2022, when he entered the game after Jones was benched. Fans chanted his name and cheered him loudly that night.
In Thursday night’s preseason-opening win over the Panthers, fans demonstrated just how much things have changed.
Zappe was booed as he took over for rookie quarterback Drake Maye in the first quarter.
“Yeah, it’s kind of the opposite of what it’s been the last couple of years,” Zappe said. “But when it was going the opposite way, I didn’t really mind and when it was going this way, I didn’t mind either. We went down and scored, so I think they cheered after that. That’s really all you can do as a quarterback is score and then everybody’s happy.”
Overall, Zappe played well. He completed 12 of 20 passes for 108 yards. He didn’t throw a touchdown, but he did throw a 28-yard touchdown to Kayshon Boutte to set up a two-yard touchdown run by Kevin Harris.
Zappe handled most of the passing work Thursday night, with Maye and Brissett playing just one series each. Joe Milton threw just six passes, completing four, including a 38-yard touchdown to JaQuae Jackson.
Zappe joked that he helped set up Milton’s touchdown pass.
“It’s nice to have all four quarterbacks cheering each other on,” Zappe said. “So when we get to the sidelines, everybody has an iPad and is talking about, ‘Maybe we should do this next time, maybe we should attack this guy or run this route.’”
“It’s just little things like that that can translate when you get back on the field, like Joe’s touchdown on the double move,” Zappe added. “We’ve been preparing for that all game and I was like, man, I threw you those routes, you’re welcome to the double move there. But it was a great play by him, a great catch and a great touchdown for the offense. It was pretty cool.”
Zappe, who started eight games after taking over for Jones last year, saw his practice reps drop off significantly during training camp. But he threw more than three times as many passes as any other Patriots quarterback Thursday night.
“I knew who I was going to play and when I was going to play, but I didn’t know how long it was going to last,” Zappe said. “If it was the whole game, I’d be happy, I want to play, but that’s up to AVP (offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt) and (Jerod) Mayo.”
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