Is there a more obvious narrative for NFL reporters to run away with than “backup usurps incumbent following injury”? There's been plenty of speculation regarding the Dallas Cowboys' situation with Cooper Rush following Dak Prescott's absence, and now, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is currently facing the same, if enviable, problem with Bailey Zappe and Mac Jones.

Belichick was faced with questions as to whether Zappe could supplant Jones as the QB1 following Zappe's impressive performance during their 29-0 victory against the Detroit Lions. But the 70-year old coach has seen and heard it all and thus, argued that thinking about such matters is nothing but a pointless endeavor.

“I’m not going to get into a lot of hypotheticals on all different things that might or might not happen and all that. That’s just, to me, a waste of time,” Belichick said in a weekly interview with WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show, per Boston.com. “I’m not going to sit around here and dream up scenarios. We’ll take things as they come and go from there.”

This is not Bill Belichick's first rodeo with speculations regarding his quarterback situation. Back in 2014, the Patriots drafted Jimmy Garoppolo to be the heir to Tom Brady, but we all know how that turned out. Amid all the talk about being replaced by his understudy, Brady remained elite deep into his Patriots career, leading New England to three more Super Bowls since 2015.

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Thus, it's also valuable for Bailey Zappe to continue playing like he did when he went 17/21 and threw one touchdown against the Lions, if only to push Mac Jones to even greater heights.

As the old adage goes, “iron sharpens iron”, and Bill Belichick, despite shutting down any talk of a potential changing of guard, will value these sorts of performances especially if it leads to the level of performances from the team being raised overall.

With Jones still suffering through nagging ankle problems following a sprain back in Week 3, the rookie out of Western Kentucky should make the start for the Patriots yet again during their Week 6 tilt against the Cleveland Browns.

And who knows, maybe Bill Belichick and the Patriots have struck gold again late in the draft after selecting Bailey Zappe with the 137th pick. Mac Jones, once he makes a full recovery, will surely do everything he could to make sure he won't be the Drew Bledsoe in this story.