Bailey Zappe had the best performance in his young career as he led the New England Patriots to an upset win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night. But the people closest to the Patriots quarterback weren't able to make the trip to Pittsburgh.

Following the Patriots' win, Zappe shared that the tickets for the win over the Steelers were just a little too much for his wallet.

“I had nobody,” Zappe told reporters when asked. “They all watched from home. I don’t want to pay for those tickets. I’m still on a rookie contract, you know? That’s a little expensive.”

As Zappe laughed off the question, he had many reasons to smile after the Patriots' 21-18 win. He completed 19 of 28 passes for 240 yards, throwing three touchdowns in the first half.

This season has been far from easy on Zappe. The Patriots' second-year quarterback was cut at the end of training camp despite providing a solid outing in relief of an injured Mac Jones last season, winning both of his starts as a rookie.

Zappe eventually made his way back onto the roster by the start of the regular season, but he still faced troubles. Despite Jones' poor performance through the Patriots' first 10 games of the season, Zappe never was named the starter as he also failed to impress during his three outings in relief.

But after Jones was benched for a fourth time this season at halftime in the Patriots' Week 12 game against the New York Giants, Zappe has taken the reins at quarterback for New England. He played the remainder of that game, which was a 10-7 loss, and struggled in his first start of the season last week, failing to throw for 200 yards in a 6-0 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

What helped Bailey Zappe flip the script in Patriots' win over the Steelers

New England Patriots Bailey Zappe looking happy/celebrating

Entering Week 14, the Patriots held the worst scoring offense in the NFL. They also only put up 13 points over their last three games, which was why it was a major shock that Zappe and the Patriots were able to score 21 points in the first half on Thursday.

Zappe actually credited the quick turnaround for his ability to perform well.

“We didn’t really get much physical reps. So the only thing I did was sat behind a computer and just stared at a screen the last two days, three days,” Zappe said. “So I might transfer that over to the next few weeks.”

We'll see if that approach works when the Patriots take on the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 15.