Well, after 2.5 games, it's a good thing no one's overrating Zappe's performance and abilities.
The link isn't coming up for me. Would you mind quoting from it or summarizing it?
Offensive coaching changes and Mac's injury have heightened tensions between the parties over the past couple of months. Mac has been second guessing some of the decisions such as having Patricia and Judge lead the offense, changing the offense, etc. Mac has been improvising on the field and taking downfield shots that have led to turnovers. Patriots are using Zappe's success to send Mac a message to fully buy in to the system.
Ok. Thank you. I googled it and read some of Breer's quotes on NBCSports. I don't trust Breer at all but as you pointed out we now have three media members saying similar things. If this is close to the truth we may have our answer on who will be QB1 going forward.
Local media members -- Phil Perry, Greg Bedard, Patriots.com -- all fully expect Mac to be QB1 going forward. Perry, who I suspect has pretty good access, thinks Mac will start against the Bears and believes Mac was close to being physically ready against the Browns. Oh well, so much for my prediction.
Completely agree with you.
If you don't mind sharing from a high level, how does this stat measure how a qb contributes to a pressure? Time? Pocket movement?
Does that stat mean much though? 43% of what sample size through 7 quarters? Wasn't he barely pressured at all last week?
Mac wasn't facing 2 of the worst defenses in the league who were more banged up than usual. The lions when healthy are the worst in the league and they were basically running out practice squad guys at corner.
Ya, I don't understand the line of thought that he doesn't play. He practiced Friday he was a questionable game-time decision. He's going to practice this week. If he DIDNT play i would seriously be worried about his decision not to have surgery.
Why? Surgery was supposed to get him back in 3 or 4 weeks. If he's back in about 4 weeks, not getting surgery was the right call.
This seems exactly right to me. The only thing I would add is that Zappe is playing well enough now that there is no need to rush Mac back, health-wise.
Against Green Bay, they kept things extremely conservative and arguably denied themselves a chance to win.
Bad defenses, simplified game plans, and the whole team having more experience in the new offense will do that will do that.
I think this would be fair if Mac was talking about this in public or if his people are leaking it. If it is just a fact that some good reporting has uncovered, I think it is just one of those things that happens. People disagree about stuff. No one would like, after a good first year, to see the offense and the OC changed this way.
Not sure it says anything about who QB1 will be, but it may dispel some of the narrative around Mac’s play in the first 3 games and “being asked to do too much.” Other than the media’s and folk’s expectations about Mac, what proof was there that in 2022 Mac was actually being asked to take so many chances, versus making these decisions on his own. Commentary from Breer, Simmons, and Lombardi indicate that some (most?) of those decisions were Mac’s, and if Mac just ran the Zappe offense (essentially make better decisions and safer throws) then the team would be better off. Only the coaches know the extent of the issue, if any.
Those are the same kind of circumstances that led to Mac looking great from Week 7 to Week 12 last year (undermanned opponents, terrible defenses), though. Since Week 13 of last year and including playoffs he's thrown 10 TDs, 12 INTs and has a passer rating in the mid 70s. That's a pretty significant stretch of below par play, in my opinion. If they want to plug Mac back in, I'm 100% fine with that decision, but it better come with some strings attached. People were already treating him as a player as entrenched as the Justin Herbert's of the world, and it should be pretty clear now that's not the reality of the situation.
I think this misunderstands or conflates a few distinct issues.
Why? The intent is to show the defense the ball, which can create an iota of hesitation, which helps.
It seems rather convenient that the exact same drum the media has been beating since June is the problem Mac has with the team. Maybe it's accurate, but it certainly fits a narrative.
What I love about this is that this supposed rift has been talked about nonstop by the Felger and Mazzes of the world as a way to shit on the coaching staff by using Mac as the sympathetic figure ("how can they not make it work for our guy??") and now they'll probably reuse the same narrative but flip it around to make Mac's personality being at fault for his lack of production and a possible reason as to why the coaching staff may go with Zappe. It's a win-win.
If Zappe is responsible for guys being wide open now, I hope that Bill gives him the job forever. That's what I'm seeing--guys being open. If I incorrectly attributed the cause, my bad.
This is the thing that stands out to me. I love that Zappe is keeping the ship afloat, but we couldn't have asked for better schedule luck when it comes to the defenses our backup QB has to face.
If the sample size is too small for this stat, shouldn't it be too small for all of them?
Mac coming back for the Bears game is actually a bit of a risk for him. If he wins, he should have; if he loses, the birds really start chirping. And their defense is not terrible. It still comes down to health. When he comes back he better be physically able to perform.
Cooper Rush says hello!
My argument against this would be what indication has Mac given us that he can actually do more if when asked to do more his performance level has dropped significantly? I think it's unquestionable he can do what Zappe has been doing, I don't know where the certainty he "can do more" comes from. If anything he's given indication he struggles when being asked to be more aggressive and carry more of the offensive load.
I read that as saying the Pats were trying to have Mac throw deep earlier this year and with Zappe they're not doing that at all. So maybe Mac will benefit from fewer deep throws.
Yeah, I don't know about that. Think i saw more line drives from Zappe yesterday than I've seen from Mac ever.
If Mac comes back and turns the ball over at the rate he was before the injury, he’s going to get yanked.
I read a lot of scouting reports on both players yesterday as Zappe was playing and that's the consensus. Eye test doesn't necessarily follow but it seems to be a consistent take.
The ADOT thing is dumb. It's not a particularly indicative measure of anything.
Bears team is garbage but their defense isn't bad, especially against the pass. We're going to learn something next week whoever the QB is.
Yeah, the Bears allow the 4th fewest passing yards per game and the 4th most rushing yards. Some of that is likely due to game situations. In their first game they played against Trey Lance in a rainstorm, they also played the Giants when the NYG only had to throw the ball 13 times and got to face Wentz as well.
Belichick and Parcells went 8-8 with Rick Mirer and Ray Lucas after Vinny went down week 1 in 1999. The dude can flat out coach. Actually makes it hard to evaluate these QBs because BB could coach mediocre guys to play winning ball.
