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Patriots enter Chargers matchup in their sorriest state in decades originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
This is the state of the Patriots heading into to the 12th game of the 2023 season.
Two wins. Worst team in the AFC. A second-year backup quarterback, Bailey Zappe, whom the team released at the end of training camp, will start. He’ll be backed up by a rookie, Malik Cunningham, who was also released at the end of training camp. Cunningham has spent the bulk of this season training to become a wide receiver.
Zappe’s the starter because Mac Jones – the frontrunner for Offensive Rookie of the Year when the Patriots were 8-2 through 10 games in 2021 – has been so bad that after his fourth benching the Patriots had seen enough. Mercifully.
Enthusiasm over the change is natural. At least Zappe represents something different, even if his preseason and training camp were so bad he wasn’t able to mount even a modest challenge to Jones’ role as starter.
His four regular-season cameos and — one supposes — his practice play haven’t been overwhelming either. Otherwise, wouldn’t the move to Zappe have come sooner?
Remember, it was a little more than a month ago that Zappe was inactive against the Raiders. Bypassed as Jones’ backup in favor of Cunningham, who’d never taken an NFL snap at quarterback.
That game in Vegas was a week after New England lost 34-0 at home to the Saints. That came a week after they lost 38-3 to the Cowboys.
For the record, the Patriots lost to the Raiders, quarterbacked that day by Jimmy Garoppolo, who — predictably — got injured. Former Patriots backup Brian Hoyer got the win in relief. Former Patriot wideout Jakobi Meyers had five catches and a touchdown. Former Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels got a rare win and was fired a little more than two weeks later. Cunningham was in for three plays. On his only dropback, he was sacked.
The starting quarterback drama, such as it is, was tabled for a bit Thursday when the Patriots…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/patriots-enter-chargers-matchup-sorriest-135007925.html
Author : NBC Sports Boston
Publish date : 2023-12-01 13:50:07
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