Prepare yourselves for the weirdest stat that you might hear all week. The New England Patriots and Bill Belichick just moved up to 5-0 when starting a quarterback that wasn’t drafted in the first round, who was also making his first start. This record extended when the Patriots dismantled the Detroit Lions by shutting them out 29-0.
Starting that game was none other than fourth-round rookie quarterback Bailey Zappe. It was his first start in the NFL after getting some time in the previous week when Mac Jones went down with an injury. Belichick put together quite a strong plan for Zappe to go out and execute without making it too confusing. Zappe had completed 17 out of his 21 passes on the night. In total, he threw for 188 yards, one touchdown and one interception with a passer rating of 100.0.
In terms of league history, Zappe was the first rookie drafted in the fourth round or later that has been able to win his first career start in the first five weeks of the season. The last quarterback to be able to do that was Chris Weinke, quarterback of the Carolian Panthers in Week 1 of the 2001 season. Other quarterbacks that have had the opportunity to get up to this record were Kyle Orton and Dak Prescott but both missed the mark.
Patriots Have Heard This Before
Now, the Patriots have heard this before. Zappe is the fifth non-first-round quarterback to start and win for them in his first career start. The first was Tom Brady as expected who did it back in 2001. Matt Cassell was the second who did it seven years later in 2008. Third came Jimmy Garoppolo in Week 1 of the 2016 year. Surprisingly, Jacoby Brissett did it in Week 3 of the 2016 year right after Jimmy G. Then finally, we have Zappe in Week 5 of the 2022 campaign.
To put this into perspective, non-first-round quarterbacks during this span have a record of 30-80. This just goes to show how great that Belichick and this coaching staff gets their players prepared. They knew exactly how to make the game easier for their young quarterback by giving them easy reads to throw the football into.
Moving into Week 6, Zappe might be hitting the field once again to keep pushing the Patriots forward. Mac Jones doesn’t have a timeline for when he can return from his ankle injury. He’s already missed about two weeks of action, so Zappe should have some more starting opportunities. However, when Jones returns, he will go back to being the starter. Regardless, Zappe looked good. Though he probably looked a bit better considering that the defense literally shut out the Lions. There weren’t any big moments for Zappe to show up as they were winning the entire time. But hey, a win is certainly a win. I don’t think the Patriots and Belichick are going to be complaining about this one all that much.