Bill Belichick, Bill O'Brien sing the praises of Bailey Zappe
FOXBORO -- Bailey Zappe was all smiles Sunday night after leading the underdog Patriots to a win over the Denver Broncos. On Tuesday, Bill Belichick had plenty of praise for his quarterback.
Zappe had one of the best performances of his career Sunday night in Denver, connecting on 25 of his 33 pass attempts for 256 yards and a pair of touchdowns in New England's 26-23 victory. He also authored the first game-winning drive of his career, setting up Chad Ryland's 56-yard field goal with just seconds left on the clock.
Zappe did fumble away New England's first possession on the team's first offensive snap of the game, but he did not throw an interception for the first time in three games. Belichick lauded the quarterback's ball security and decision-making on Tuesday morning.
"The quarterback position, the most important thing is ball security and protecting the team and not turning the ball over," Belichick said during his appearance on WEEI's The Greg Hill Show. "So that's definitely gotten better for him and then he's made some key plays on third down and, as you said, made a couple explosive plays on balls down the field to different receivers."
One of Zappe's most explosive plays on Sunday came on a third-and-3 during New England's final drive. The Patriots seemed happy to take the game into overtime, but Denver called timeouts to stop the clock on back-to-back Ezekiel Elliott runs. Zappe then hit DeVante Parker for a 27-yard connection on third down to move the Patriots to the Denver 47-yard line, setting up the eventual game-winning field goal.
Belichick also mentioned Zappe's scramble late in the third quarter that ended with the quarterback hitting Mike Gesicki in the back of the end zone to put New England on top 16-7. Belichick said that he's pleased to see that Zappe has "continued to improve" since taking over as the team's starting quarterback.
"I thought he did a good job in Pittsburgh and Denver handling the crowd noise and the operation at the line of scrimmage pretty cleanly. We didn't have very many mental problems there," said Belichick. "I mean, there were a couple times when we got beat and that kind of thing. But as far as getting the plays called right, run right, blocked right, he did a good job on that.
"Denver had several different looks that we had to deal with. They had a couple different nickel looks and then their base defense and a couple of different dime looks. A team that we saw multiple different defensive looks out of, more than what most teams run. That was challenging, but I thought he did a good job of that," added Belichick. "Moving in the right direction."
Likewise, offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien also pointed out the growing confidence that he has been seeing out of Zappe over the last few weeks. He has been extremely pleased with Zappe's poise and ability to "negotiate the pocket" when defenses begin to close in.
"With more experience, he gets more and more comfortable with the looks that he's seeing. Give Bailey a lot of credit," O'Brien said Tuesday. "Bailey is a very consistent guy. Calm, poised -- he's got that. What he doesn't have is experience. He's gaining experience, he just doesn't have -- you cannot discount experience and what that means to your career.
"The more reps you get in practice or the more reps you get in a game, it means a lot for your career if you take advantage of it. That is something that Zappe has done a good job of," added O'Brien. "Hopefully he continues to be the same guy. Don't change; be consistent and try to get better. This league is all about improvement and who can get better the fastest. Hopefully he keeps that attitude."
Zappe is now 2-2 as New England's starting quarterback, with six touchdowns and four interceptions on the season. New England improved to 4-11 with Sunday's win, and will travel to Buffalo for a road matchup against the Bills in Week 17.
