There was a time when Bailey Zappe was the fresh new quarterback fans were calling the Patriots to put in the game.
Chants of “We want Zappe!” were a regular occurrence at Gillette Stadium when Mac Jones was still the starter and Zappe was the backup who showed flashes of brilliance.
But times have changed in New England. Drake Maye and now even Joe Milton are the exciting young quarterbacks the fans want to see.
So when Zappe entered the game in the first quarter of the New England Patriots’ season opener, there were different sounds raining down from fans in the stands.
Zappe got booed as he trotted onto the field.
“It’s a little opposite of what it’s been the last two years,” Zappe said.
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It wasn’t too long ago that fans were unhappy to see Jones take the field. Now, it’s Zappe who’s hearing it from the stands.
What’s it like being on the other side? Zappe says it doesn’t affect him either way.
“When it was happening the opposite way, it really didn’t bother me. When it’s happening this way, it didn’t bother me at all either,” Zappe said.
“I mean, we drive down and scored. I think they were cheering after that,” he added. “So that’s really all you can do is as a quarterback is go score and everybody’s happy.”
Zappe led the offense to its first score of the night during the second quarter. After getting great field position, Zappe fired a pair of incomplete passes.
However, he followed that up by zipping a pass just above the hands of a defender to Kayshon Boutte for a 28-yard gain. Kevin Harris punched it in a couple of plays later to make it a 7-0 game.
Zappe got the bulk of the snaps Thursday night, coming in midway through the first quarter and leaving in the closing minutes of the third. It was a heavy workload for a player whose status on the roster remains a major question mark.
Right now, Zappe feels like the odd man out in the Patriots’ quarterback competition. Veteran Jacoby Brissett has been brought in as the starter. He represents the present.
Then there are Maye and Milton, who represent the talented, unproven prospects who fans want to see.
Right now, Zappe represents an uncertain middle ground. He’s not so young as to be the up-and-comer. But he also doesn’t have the resume to prove that he should be the starter.
As of Thursday, it sounds like fans have moved on to the new batch of young quarterbacks. But as Zappe mentioned, the only thing he can do about that is put points on the board.
He had limited success there against the Carolina Panthers. Zappe finished 12-of-20 passing for 108 yards. It wasn’t enough to change fans’ minds about who they want to see this season.
In contrast, rookie Joe Milton provided a spark for the Patriots offense and generated a rise in the crowd. It was the sort of buzz that we saw from Zappe when he had a burst of success as a rookie.
Will we hear “We want Zappe!” again in Foxborough? We’ve only got a few weeks (and two preseason games) left in training camp to find out.
