How did Bailey Zappe and the New England Patriots offense go from getting shut out to scoring three touchdowns in a half in just four days?
The quarterback says it may have had something to do with all the film he watched ahead of Thursday night’s win against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
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Zappe was invited on set with Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football Crew to discuss the Patriots’ third win of the season, which featured him throwing three touchdowns in the first half. Analyst (and former All-Pro corner) Richard Sherman asked what had changed between Zappe’s start on Sunday and his start in Pittsburgh.
Zappe said it came down to film study on the computer — since the Patriots had so little onfield practice time with the short week.
“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.”
Zappe went 19-of-28 through the air for 240 yards, three touchdowns and one interception, good for a 115.2 passer rating.
The second-year quarterback was asked what the key was to his strong performance. In true Patriots fashion, Zappe deferred to his teammates, including tight end Hunter Henry, who was also on the Amazon Prime Video set.
He also hinted at a key piece of advice he’d gotten from Bill Belichick.
“I mean, just give it to my playmakers like this guy,” Zappe said, gesturing to Henry. “Just doing the best I can to give the ball to them. Coach Belichick always says, ‘We can’t make yards until I get rid of the ball.’ So just give it to these guys, give it to them, let them go make plays and that was the mindset of this game.”
Zappe’s strong performance helped the Patriots improve to 3-10 on the season. Next up, it’s a Week 15 home game against the Kansas City Chiefs. We’ll find out if Zappe keeping his nose in the computer will keep his strong play going.
