Bailey Zappe addressed the media after his final preseason game vs. the Tennessee Titans. Zappe was sacked four time, had three fumbles, and 57 yards.
New England Patriots backup quarterback Bailey Zappe's less-than-stellar preseason concluded Friday night in Nashville with another lackluster performance.
Zappe started the preseason finale and completed eight of 15 pass attempts for 57 yards with zero touchdowns and zero interceptions. Perhaps most concerning was Zappe's ball security. He fumbled three times and lost one of them.
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Zappe played in all three preseason games and got by far the most reps of any QB on the depth chart. Here's how he fared in those matchups.
- vs. Texans: 12-of-14, 79 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
- vs. Packers: 10-of-22, 117 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
- vs. Titans: 8-of-15, 57 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
- Overall: 30-of-51 (58.8 percent) for 253 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, five sacks, one fumble lost
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In fairness to Zappe, it's difficult to make a really accurate assessment of his preseason performance because the offensive line didn't do him any favors. He was constantly under pressure in these games, and that was definitely the case against the Titans.
But still, his decision making was a little too slow and the accuracy was off at times.
How does Zappe view where he's at after three preseason games?
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"Of course, you can be in a lot better position every time you look at the film and look back at every game," Zappe said in his postgame press conference Friday.
"There's always going to be things you could have done better and you could have fixed. Today is one of those games for me. We'll get back tomorrow or whenever and learn from those mistakes and move on."
All teams have to trim their rosters down to 53 players by Tuesday, Aug. 29, and Zappe is still the favorite to be the backup quarterback in New England.
It's important not to overreact too much to preseason performance, but Zappe didn't improve his stock much, if at all, over the course of the summer with his play.
