Bill Belichick has yet to outright say who the New England Patriots starting quarterback is, which has led some to think that there is drama between the team's top two quarterbacks.

Bailey Zappe, who started and played in over a half of the Patriots' preseason-opening loss to the Houston Texans, downplayed any idea that there could be beef between him and Mac Jones.

“I think the quarterback room, like I said, we all want to win,” Zappe said when asked how to characterize his relationship with the rest of the team's quarterbacks, including Jones, as he spoke to reporters following Thursday's game. “That's the main objective of everybody on this team. We want to do what's best for the team. I mean, that's pretty much as simple as it can be.”

There haven't been any clear signs of beef between Jones and Zappe so far as they enter their second seasons as teammates. But it's easy to see why there could be. Zappe briefly replaced Jones last season when the latter went down with an injury. Zappe's play during that time won him support from fans, including when Jones made his return during a home game as fans booed him and cheered for Zappe to replace him. The then-rookie replaced Jones in that matchup against the Chicago Bears, helping them score two touchdowns before fizzling out in a loss.

Jones was the starting quarterback for the remainder of the season, but the controversy didn't go away. Like much of the offense, Jones struggled for a good amount of the 2022 season, leading some to push for Zappe to replace him.

To add to all of that, Belichick has yet to acknowledge Jones as the starting quarterback when asked dating back to the offseason. All of that has led to some speculation that there is some sort of quarterback competition, even if Jones has taken the vast majority of the first-team snaps so far in practice.

As Jones has been the team's clear starting quarterback in practice, it's also been clear that he hasn't communicated much with Zappe during that time. Longtime Patriots reporter and MassLive columnist Karen Guregian even noted that Jones and Zappe “are typically nowhere near each other to watch the proceedings” during practice in a column on Wednesday.

“Through a dozen practices, it’s hard to recall a time where Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe engaged in conversation,” Guregian wrote. “One quarterback to another.

“Tuesday’s Patriots practice was par for the course. Jones and Zappe took the field at different times, in this case five minutes apart. They warmed up on the same portion of the field, in close proximity, and yet remained distant.”

Of course, that could be characterized as just competitiveness. Zappe showed some on Thursday, completing 12-of-14 passes for 79 yards during his time on the field.

Malik Cunningham was the quarterback that shined the most though on Thursday. The undrafted rookie led the Patriots on their only touchdown drive of the game, which earned him praise from Zappe.

“Malik came in and did a phenomenal job, had a really good drive. Scored the only touchdown of the game,” Zappe said. “Did really good in both the run game and the pass game. It was really nice to see him do that. Especially his first game in the NFL, to be able to go out there and kind of put the jitters aside and play like he did was really good to see.

“I think like everybody, I'm sure he had those little nerves, little jitters the first play or so. As the drive went on, you could see he got comfortable with it. To be able to see him score a touchdown and how excited he got, was really good.”