The 2-9 New England Patriots cannot get their offense going, as evidenced in Week 12, once again prompting the question of who will start at quarterback for the team going forward. And once again, the answer is unclear.
“I didn’t announce the starter (last week) and I’m not gonna announce starters at every position every week,” Bill Belichick said. “I get asked that every week. … that’s not really what I’m going to do.”
Naturally, Belichick was asked who the starting quarterback will be in Week 13 against the Chargers, as it is once again up in the air, especially with Mac Jones getting benched at halftime in their Week 12 loss to the Giants in favor of Bailey Zappe.
“We’ll take a look at this week,” was Belichick’s quick response that gave no insight on what the offense could look like in Week 13.
When they look at the Week 12 film they will see another rough performance from Jones, who went 12-for-21 with 89 yards, two interceptions and multiple other near picks. Zappe didn’t fare much better, going 9-for-14 for 54 yards with an interception.
The quarterback situation at Gillette Stadium has been a mess, of course. Jones was named the original starter this season, with the team waiving backup Zappe — first signing him to the practice squad, then elevating him to the active roster and eventually having him replace a benched Jones in multiple games.
There has certainly been a lot of moving pieces in New England, and none of it is working.
When looking for who to blame for the Patriots’ inept offense, Jones is the player people are pointing fingers at most, and for good reason. The third-year quarterback’s decision-making is questionable and even he noted that he needs to work on not making bad plays worse. This season, Jones has more interceptions (12) than he does touchdowns (10).
Jones joined the team as the No. 15 overall pick in 2021 and after a decent rookie season, his production has decreased. When asked if he was fully on board with drafting Jones, or whether it was more of a decision by owner Rob Kraft, Bill Belichick said at the time, “organizationally we thought [drafting Jones] was the right thing to do.”
Hindsight is 20/20, and things obviously have not panned out the way the team had hoped with their first round pick. Through the bye week and into Week 12, there were question marks surrounding who would be the team’s starting QB, given Jones’…
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