The third-string quarterback is the second coming with Patriots fans turning rapturous over rookie Bailey Zappe.
Zappe Fever is a full-blown epidemic following a 29-0 victory over the Detroit Lions last Sunday in Zappe’s second NFL game and first start. Can we wait until the kid throws for 200 yards in a game before we anoint him the answer to all of the Patriots’ post-Tom Brady prayers and a legitimate threat to Mac Jones?
Maybe Zappe is the second coming of Brady, a little-known, lightly regarded backup who turns out to be a gridiron godsend. But right now his biggest contribution to the Patriots is that he’s giving them the greatest gift in life: time. Zappe has proven a capable, competent, fill-in who can keep the Patriots season from derailment while Jones recuperates from a nasty high ankle sprain.
He’s the MVP, Most Valuable Placeholder, for Jones, whose maturation and evolution remain the key to New England’s success. Jones’s development is the subplot to this season.
There’s no reason to rush Mac back this week against the 2-3 Cleveland Browns because Zappe has proven to be the perfect game manager for this manageable portion of the schedule full of quotidian quarterbacks.
This week it’s the last third-stringer who quarterbacked the Belichick FC in a home shutout before Zappe, Jacoby Brissett. The former Patriot is the Browns starter with Deshaun Watson suspended for the first 11 games for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy.
The 2-3 Patriots need to capitalize on this favorable five-game slate leading into the bye that started at home with the Lions and ends there with the Colts Nov. 6.
That’s the short-term prognosis for the Patriots. The long-term one is that if they’re going to lift the Lombardi Trophy again soon or just narrow the gap with the new AFC East overlords, the Buffalo Bills, then Jones blossoming into a full-blow franchise QB is imperative.
Year 2 is a big one for him.
It already has been clouded by coaching changes and an offensive scheme revamp. Don’t exacerbate that with a lingering injury.
Mac coming back isn’t just about his ability to return to the field. It’s about his ability to stay on the field uncompromised, so the Patriots can take an accurate temperature reading of his progress this season.
That’s where Zappe Days come in. He affords the Patriots and Jones time to do this right.
Patriots offensive assistant/quarterbacks Joe Judge said that Jones has helped prepare Zappe to play the last few weeks.
“I’m very encouraged in how he’s working,” Judge said of Jones. “We all know he’s doing everything he can to get back on the field.
“In terms of how he handles it from a mental standpoint, all I can speak on is that he’s mentally preparing himself and helping mentally prepare the other quarterbacks for Sunday every week.”
Jones can learn from the fourth-round pick too.
Before he injured his ankle on the final toss of a three-interception outing in a loss to Baltimore, Jones was underwhelming overall. While the loss to the Ravens featured 26 points and some encouraging signs offensively, in three games Jones had thrown two touchdown passes and turned the ball over six times (five interceptions). His 76.2 passer rating was at the bottom of the league.
In two games, Zappe has mostly kept the ball out of harm’s way while completing 75 percent of his passes and compiling a 104.8 rating. He was strip-sacked in his debut coming off the bench for Brian Hoyer in Green Bay, but the interception on his ledger last Sunday was not his fault.
The 23-year-old rookie from humble beginnings and Western Kentucky, where he established single-season FBS records for passing yards (5.987) and touchdown passes (62), just follows the system, takes what the defense gives him, and accepts being managed by the coaches.
That was the case at the end of the first half against the Lions when the Patriots played it extremely conservatively after reaching the Detroit 24 with 36 seconds left.
A holding penalty set them back to first and 20 from the 34 with 27 seconds remaining. They asked Zappe just to hand off to Rhamondre Stevenson to get closer for a field goal and then ran down the clock before calling a timeout.
With a 13-0 lead against the league’s highest-scoring team, they never even looked at the end zone. That tells you how Bill Belichick really regards Zappe right now.
Zappe doesn’t pout or assign interceptions to changes in offensive philosophy. There’s a lesson there for Jones and some motivational material for Belichick.
“He’s really smart and sees the game well, so from that standpoint the communication is great,” said de facto offensive play-caller Matt Patricia of Zappe. “We can go back and forth as far as the adjustments and things like that.
“All those guys in the quarterback room … they know that we’re going to put them in the best position we can, and they’re going to go out and execute to the best of their ability.”
As for what Zappe ultimately is, it’s too early to say he’s anything other than a pleasant surprise.
If you squint real hard, there are times on the field and at the podium when he vaguely resembles a young Drew Brees, an undersized, accurate quarterback.
If Zappe is Brees 2.0, never mind Brady, then the Patriots have hit the jackpot.
We’ve seen this before, though, with quarterbacks people thought were the second coming of Brady based on a small sample size of impressive performances. First it was Jimmy Garoppolo. Then it was Jones last season after he beat out Cam Newton in camp. Now, it’s Zappe.
Brady was once a young quarterback coming off the bench to capture the imagination of this fan base. He turned out to be the second coming of Joe Montana and a once-in-a-lifetime winner.
Zappe’s story isn’t a Brady sequel. As former Patriot Rosevelt Colvin would say, “Calm down.”
But the Patriots don’t need Zappe to be a second-coming signal-caller. They just need him to keep buying time.
Christopher L. Gasper is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at christopher.gasper@globe.com. Follow him @cgasper and on Instagram @cgaspersports.