Bill Belichick might be tired of being asked about Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe

BOSTON -- All week long, Bill Belichick was a bit evasive when asked questions about which quarterback would start Sunday's game against the Giants. On Friday, that cat-and-mouse game about Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe led to some joking from reporters, and some smiling and joking from Belichick himself.

After Sunday's 10-7 loss, during which neither Jones nor Zappe played well, the mood was a bit less jovial.

"I thought both guys deserved a chance to play," Belichick said when facing his first question of the day.

Jones threw two interceptions in the first half, getting benched at halftime. Zappe threw one pick in the second half. Combined, the duo threw for just 143 yards on 35 passing attempts. Together, they had a 33.4 passer rating.

"I told everybody to be ready to go," he said when asked what the plan was during the week.

"I told everybody to be ready to go. I think they both deserved to play," he repeated when asked if the plan was to change quarterbacks at halftime, or if that was a result of Jones' two interceptions.

After Belichick said reps weren't split quite at a 50-50 rate for Jones and Zappe during practice, he was asked if it was fair to Jones that he started without getting all of the practice reps.

"I think everybody had plenty of reps," Belichick said. 

When asked if Zappe will be next week's starter, Belichick said, "We just finished the game."

Similar to the question about Jones, Belichick was asked if it was fair to Zappe to have him play after not getting the majority of practice reps.

"It's everybody's job to be ready to go," he answered.

When asked when he told the players who the starting quarterback would be, Belichick said he couldn't quite remember.

"Yeah ... I don't remember," he said. "Sometime during the week."

He was asked if the quarterback split will continue next week.

"Game's just over," he replied. "Game was over an hour ago."

The questions kept coming. The same answers kept flowing. After about four minutes of the Q&A, Belichick perhaps sensed it was going nowhere and exited stage right.

"I told everybody to be ready to go. I think we covered that. I think they both deserved to play," Belichick said. "I told everybody to be ready to go."

A reporter continued asking a question, but Belichick put an end to the press conference.

"OK? Good?" Belichick said mid-question. "Thank you."

Thus ended this round of questions about the quarterback. Obviously, there will be many more in the coming days. Unfortunately for Belichick and the Patriots, Sunday's game showed there might not really be a proper answer to any of those questions.