One of the biggest storylines going into Week 12 is who the Patriots will start at quarterback.
Coach Bill Belichick wants every player to be ready to go and hasn’t committed to Mac Jones after benching him in New England’s Week 10 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Germany. Having a quarterback competition this late in the season isn’t ideal by any means, but it’s how things are being handled with the team being 2-8.
On the latest episode of “Eye On Foxborough,” MassLive Patriots reporters Chris Mason and Mark Daniels discuss why the handling of the quarterback situation “makes zero sense.”
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“At the end of the day if you’re gonna make a quarterback change a la the New York Jets, you come out and say it, you get ahead of it. The New York Jets did that,” Daniels said. “They said, ‘Hey, we’re rolling with Tim Boyle. Zach Wilson is gonna be the third string quarterback and we’re making the change because we need new life in our offense.’ Whereas the Patriots — it’s been more of this mystery. It’s just been this mystery. ‘Ah, we told all players to be ready to play, or Bill O’Brien essentially saying it’s gonna come down to practice.
“If they’re gonna make a change to Bailey Zappe, who has not started in a game in over a year, he has to play the starter reps in practice to get him adequately prepared,” he added. “Now, if you’re gonna stick with Mac Jones, and I think his confidence has clearly taken a hit, you need to go behind him say, ‘Mac Jones is our guy.’ Give him all the starter reps. And instead, what it appears that’s happening here is that the Patriots have sort of been splitting up their practice reps between Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe. I don’t think Will Grier has been the guy but I will say If Will Grier was gonna start on Sunday, he should take all the practice reps.”
Mason agreed, adding in that it’s a short week of practice due to the Thanksgiving holiday. So having a quarterback competition with limited time isn’t doing anyone any good.
“I just it makes no sense. And the reality is that they just have nobody at the position where if there was anybody even remotely decent behind Mac, they would have been playing weeks ago,” he said. “But they just don’t have anyone on the roster that can even compete, and that’s a glaring indictment on Bill Belichick. It’s like what were you looking at when you created this quarterback room? And I’m not saying Brian Hoyer is the answer. Do not take that like that. But Bill did cut Brian Hoyer in the offseason for no reason, really, right? And that’s at least someone that would have been in the mix as a veteran.”
Former Patriots quarterback Jim Miller mentioned in Wednesday’s “Eye On Foxborough” episode that the team is lacking a veteran presence at the position — someone who has experience in the league and has been in several different positions before.
It will be interesting to see what the Patriots decide. Jones told reporters Wednesday he’s planning to start, but Belichick hasn’t committed to anyone ahead of New England’s Week 12 game against the New York Giants.
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