Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien supplied a uncommon peek behind the scenes of what transpired in apply final week as questions abound in regards to the staff’s beginning quarterback state of affairs.
The Patriots practiced simply as soon as final week on Wednesday earlier than breaking for the bye, and the media noticed Mac Jones take the preliminary quarterback reps with the staff’s beginning offensive line.
“The other day at practice, Mac took the first-team reps,” O’Brien mentioned. “Bailey( (Zappe) rotated in there. Will Grier rotated in there.”
Jones was benched in final Sunday’s 10-6 loss to the Colts in Frankfurt Germany with lower than two minutes remaining within the recreation for Zappe after throwing a red-zone interception on the earlier drive. Zappe responded along with his personal interception to clinch the win for the Colts.
Zappe has struggled relationship again to the spring, resulting in his launch throughout roster cuts. The Patriots initially signed Zappe to their apply squad earlier than including him to the 53-man roster forward of Week 1. The second-year professional is 10-of-25 for 104 yards with an interception in three video games in mop-up obligation. He’s carried out worse than Jones, who has now been benched in three video games whereas finishing 65.4% of his passes for two,031 yards with 10 touchdowns and 10 interception in 10 video games.
Grier has but to play for the Patriots this season after being signed off of the Bengals’ apply squad in late September. The Patriots even have rookie quarterback/huge receiver Malik Cunningham on their apply squad. He’s been energetic for one recreation in opposition to the Raiders, when he served as Jones’ backup but in addition performed huge receiver. Cunningham was sacked in his solely dropback that recreation. O’Brien answered a query about Cunningham as if he’s primarily working at huge receiver.
“I think the way we practice here there are plenty of reps to go around,” O’Brien mentioned. “Now, can you do it with four guys? Three guys? No. For two guys, there’s enough reps to go around where everybody gets a shot at it.”
O’Brien mentioned head coach Bill Belichick will determine who will begin at quarterback Week 12 when the Patriots journey to New York to play the Giants.
Source: www.bostonherald.com