Mac Jones lost his job as the New England Patriots' starting quarterback in Week 13, with Bailey Zappe taking the reins and starting the last three games. As Zappe has helped the Patriots get an upset over win over the Pittsburgh Steelers but not look overly impressive, Bill O'Brien seemed to leave the door at least slightly open for Jones to play again this season.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the Patriots offensive coordinator took a page from Bill Belichick's playbook and didn't rule out anything when asked if Jones might see the field again in 2023.
“I think everybody’s gotta be ready to play, especially in the situation we’re in. I really do,” O’Brien said. “I think that everybody has to be ready to go. Anybody that’s on the 53-man roster has to go out on the practice field and practice well and earn a shot to play. That’s whether you’re a quarterback, wide receiver, tight end, running back or offensive lineman.
“I know you’ve heard that from Bill, but that’s the truth. You have to be ready to go, because if you practice really well, you’re going to have a real shot to play. I think that goes for every position.”
Could Mac Jones get another chance to play this season?
Bill O'Brien shares why it's still a possibility 👀 pic.twitter.com/qMYvpdaa4B
— NBC Sports Boston's Patriots Coverage (@NBCSPatriots) December 19, 2023
What Bill O'Brien thought of Bailey Zappe's performance in Patriots' loss to Chiefs
Zappe has had some incredibly high peaks and really low valleys through his first three starts. After getting shutout against the Los Angeles Chargers, Zappe threw three touchdowns in the first half of the Patriots' win over the Steelers. On Sunday, Zappe completed 17 of 19 passes, throwing a touchdown as he had the Patriots flirting with an upset bid of the Kansas City Chiefs.
But Zappe's second-half performances over the last two weeks haven't been pretty. The Patriots didn't score a point in the final 30 minutes of their win against the Steelers. Against the Chiefs, Zappe threw a woeful interception on the Patriots' first play of the second half, tossing a ball into triple coverage that led to an easy interception for linebacker Willie Gay.
O'Brien acknowledged that play set the tone for the rest of the half as the Patriots only scored again after an interception gave them the ball deep in Chiefs territory.
”That’s not a good omen for the rest of the half. We’ve got to be able to overcome it,” O’Brien said. “But, you know, we throw an interception on [our] very first play, like, that was not good. And so after that, it became a two-score game and we had to do some different things and, you know, just didn’t go quite the way we wanted it to go.
”We can’t turn the ball over. We have to continue to try to stress that and make the guys understand. Bailey played, I think, a solid football game. He’d be the first to tell you that he’d like to have that play back, but we’ve got to do a better job of taking care of the ball.”
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