Report: Bailey Zappe gets increased practice reps, though Mac Jones still the Patriots' starter

BOSTON -- It has begun. Again.

Coming off Mac Jones' ugliest performance as a pro, a national reporter has ever-so-slightly welcomed back talk of a quarterback controversy in New England.

The report comes from Tom Pelissero, who stated multiple times that Mac Jones remains the Patriots' starting quarterback while also offering up some valid explanations for some of Jones' struggles this year. But Pelissero also dropped a valuable nugget: Backup QB Bailey Zappe got some more work in practice this week.

"No change is considered likely or imminent at this point, but worth noting here: Zappe did get increased practice reps this week," Pelissero said Sunday morning.

Pelissero indicated that the Patriots have "frustration with the way Jones played last week in that blowout loss to Dallas." 

Pelissero also shared some perspective on Jones from folks around the league after that dismal performance in Dallas.

"Now Mac played pretty well out of the gate this season. He does not have a lot of time to throw, he does not have a go-to receiver," Pelissero said. "Other teams who watched the tape from the Cowboys game say Mac's eyes are down, he is looking at the rush. It's impossible to play on-time, efficient football like that."

Indeed, Jones' issues last week went above and beyond what had plagued him and the offense in the first three weeks of the season. While the rotating cast on the offensive line has led to constant pressure for Jones, much of Sunday's issues appeared to have been self-inflicted, with Jones exiting clean pockets and compounding bad decisions by making worse decisions to try to compensate.

The end result was a three-turnover game where Jones was yanked in the middle of the third quarter. (Zappe, who went 4-for-9 for 57 yards while taking a sack, didn't fare all that much better.)

It all sets up for a fascinating scene at Gillette Stadium on Sunday. If Jones and Bill O'Brien can work together to run a functional offense, all will likely be well for the foreseeable future. But if Jones has a repeat of his performance from last week, then the atmosphere could get ugly in front of 68,000 fans who don't want to see the team fall to 1-4.

Last year, most of the "quarterback controversy" was the doing of Bill Belichick. This time, Mac Jones can blame his own poor decision-making for bringing it back. It's now up to him if he wants to make it all go away on Sunday.