The Patriots decided against playing starting quarterback Mac Jones in the preseason finale against the Tennessee Titans Friday.
That allowed Bailey Zappe, Trace McSorley and Malik Cunningham to strut their stuff against the Titans at steamy Nissan Stadium in Nashville.
How did Zappe & Co. do?
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Bailey Zappe
Much like many of his appearances this season, we got a mixed bag from Zappe. Some good, some not so good. Against the Titans, however, the majority of his play was in the not-so-good category.
Of course, Zappe once again had to navigate with the minefield known as his offensive line. That meant he was forced into quite a few check downs, and wasn’t able to get the ball down field. That’s been a constant with Zappe in all three preseason games.
He saw action in the first half, handed off to Trace McSorley in the second quarter, and was back out to start the third quarter. He was also sent out in the fourth quarter.
It looked like offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien was trying to bolster Zappe’s confidence and get him to leave the game on a positive note. It didn’t happen. Overall, Zappe went 8 for 15 for 57 yards. He was sacked four times, lost the ball three times, with one of those recovered by the Titans.
O’Brien was in his ear after his lone series in the third quarter, following a missed connection with Malik Cunningham. No matter, Zappe continued to struggle.
In the first half, he was under center for four series. He went 4 for 6 for 42 yards. He was sacked twice, and was careless on the one fumble he lost. On the play, Zappe tried to maneuver in and around the pass rush, but as he was trying to escape, had the ball exposed and it squirted out as he was being taken down.
By and large, Zappe did the best with the hand he was dealt. His longest completion went to Thyrick Pitts on a slant for 23 yards. Pitts got an extra eight or nine yards carrying Titans. The Patriots did score on that drive, with Kevin Harris eventually running the ball in. Outside of that, there wasn’t much to hang your hat on.
It sure seemed like Zappe was done for the night after that, but he was sent back out to start the third quarter. He ran a series with Malik Cunningham also involved taking snaps.
Zappe went 1-for-3 for three yards in that series. He couldn’t connect on deep passes to Cunningham and Pitts. He was off-target with his throws for much of the night, unable to get into any kind of groove with his receivers.
It got worse from there.
Bottom line: The Patriots No. 2 quarterback is struggling mightily heading into the season.
Trace McSorley
Not much to see here.
He went three-and-out his first series in his second quarter, getting sacked on third down. He won’t factor into the quarterback equation during the upcoming cuts.
Malik Cunningham
For the second time during the preseason, Cunningham saw action as a quarterback. He was inserted during the first series in the third quarter.
Bailey Zappe started the series, but Cunningham was inserted on second down. The dual-threat quarterback had three snaps during the sequence, and ran on all three downs. He had a nice gain on third down called back with a flag thrown on the Patriots for an illegal formation.
He started one series in the fourth quarter, and the offense went nowhere. Officially, he was 0-for-2 throwing the football, was sacked once, and gained one yard on five carries.
As a receiver, Cunningham has yet to catch a pass (no catches, eight targets). At this point, the Patriots shouldn’t have much trouble getting him to the practice squad.
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