National Football League

Bailey Zappe shines, but Mac Jones deserves chance to take job back: AFC East takeaways

Updated Oct. 17, 2022 3:26 p.m. ET

By Henry McKenna
FOX Sports AFC East Writer

What do the Patriots do with Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe?

Zappe is undefeated, but that doesn't mean Jones is on the outs.

Zappe has played only two games, against truly putrid defenses in both outings. He beat the Detroit Lions, the worst defense in the NFL. He also took down the Cleveland Browns, a bottom-10 defense. So keep that context in mind.

The New England Patriots are 3-3 thanks to Zappe. That's not an exaggeration. He has had a few mistakes — namely a fumble in the first half in Week 6 — but he has also minimized his errors to a degree that Jones did not earlier this season. Zappe has actually minimized his mistakes in a way that Jones did last season. The Patriots' game plan for Zappe has been somewhat similar to what the team did for Jones last year.

But before we crown Zappe as the Patriots' QB of the future, it's important to remember that Zappe is stepping into the starting lineup for a Patriots team that has figured out its identity. Bill Belichick typically spends the first four weeks of a season determining what his team can and can't do. By Week 5, the team reduces its tinkering and starts truly thriving. It happened for Jones' Patriots last season. And it's happening for Jones and Zappe's Patriots in 2022.

I have two questions after seeing Zappe play two games.

Can he beat a top-end NFL defense? (I don't know.)

And can he step outside of his conservative comfort zone (which Jones couldn't do in his rookie season) to actively help his team win games? (I don't know.)

We won't know until Zappe gets a chance to try. And he may not get that chance. The Patriots are going to hand the job back to Jones when he returns from his ankle injury. That's what Jones deserves. Even if Zappe plays another week and beats the putrid Chicago Bears, he won't have proven himself against a top-end defense. Simply, he won't have proven himself.

Last season, Jones did to low-end defenses what Zappe has done. I have little doubt that Jones, if he'd been healthy, would have restored confidence throughout New England against the Lions and Browns. His injury just came at a bad time, with New England getting through an ugly slate of tough opponents.

Give Jones a shot to hold onto his franchise, his teammates and his fan base. As much as Zappe has been excellent, the only thing that he has demonstrated is that Jones can be on a shorter leash. New England needs to go back to Jones, who last year produced one of the most efficient seasons ever by a rookie. The team needs to give Jones more run in this improved offense. If he continues on the trajectory on which he started this season (with two touchdowns to five interceptions), then the Patriots can make a tough decision between Zappe and Jones. But at this point, we're not comparing apples to apples.

There's so much to like about the way that Zappe is playing, so much so that it's easy to end up a prisoner to the moment. Jones is the team's starter. He hasn't lost the job. Let's see if that happens in the coming weeks. Because if he's as bad as he was to start the season, then a change at quarterback might be justified. But I'm betting — and Belichick likely is too — that Jones will turn things around.

Dolphins shouldn't panic — not yet, at least

There's no doubt the Dolphins were tired and frustrated after their 24-16 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. The Dolphins had so many opportunities to beat the Vikings, who finished 2-of-12 on third down due to awful execution on offense and outstanding plays from the Miami defense. The defense set up the Dolphins offense so many times, but the offense couldn't get points when it mattered. The game did not feel as close as the scoreline showed.

The most frustrating part of the entire game had to be a seven-play run when the Dolphins committed five penalties. They kept charging into the red zone, only to get the ball called back. They even got into the end zone, only to have the ball called back. On the drive, they were practically playing penalty bingo: false start, ineligible downfield pass, offensive holding (twice) and offensive pass interference.

Of course, it didn't help the Dolphins that they lost their starting quarterback to an injury for the third straight game. Three weeks ago, Tua Tagovailoa left the game with a concussion. Last week, Teddy Bridgewater exited to undergo concussion evaluation along with an elbow injury. This week, Skylar Thompson couldn't continue after a hand injury.

"I'm going to demand that the team does not point at that to be a reason for what's happened or a reason for the loss," first-year coach Mike McDaniel said. "I think that's the easy thing to do. I think that's the path of least resistance. And generally, the path of least resistance doesn't lend the results that ambitious, convicted, all-in [we] want."

If McDaniel wants to look for proof of his point, he can look at that drive with all the penalties. There's no doubt that the Dolphins have work to do. There's no doubt that the return of Tagovailoa will help, considering he was playing at an MVP level before his concussion. There's a chance that the Dolphins will experience fewer injuries in-game.

This week, they saw Thompson, Tyreek Hill, Emmanuel Ogbah, Nik Needham, Keion Crossen and Trey Flowers miss gametime with injuries — and they were already missing Tagovailoa, Terron Armstead, Kader Kohou and Durham Smythe.

"People are going to dwell on the losses. I'm not going to do that," tight end Mike Gesicki said. "I'm not going to let anyone in this locker room do that. We're too talented. We've worked too hard. We've got too much football in front of us."

The Dolphins' three-game win streak and three-game losing streak adds up to — you guessed it — a 3-3 record alongside the Patriots and behind the Jets and Bills in the AFC East.

"It's early, early, early. It's early, bro," Dolphins linebacker Elandon Roberts told me after the game. "Stick to the blueprint, and we'll be alright. It's too early for any panic."

He added: "Miami is one of the teams people are starting to sleep on."

Buffalo cornerbacks have Matt Milano and Von Miller to thank for elite performances

When watching the Bills secondary in a vacuum, its seems to be able to insert just about any player at cornerback with success, from Dane Jackson to Taron Johnson to Kaiir Elam to Christian Benford to Cam Lewis. It really hasn't mattered.

Why?

Well, the Bills are getting impressive performances from all those players, who have each exceeded expectations. But it's not just about them. Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier is doing something special: He is making such tremendously good use of the talents of Von Miller and Matt Milano that it makes his middling defensive backs more dangerous than they might be on another team.

"You could feel [Miller]," coach Sean McDermott said postgame. "Whether he was sacking [Patrick] Mahomes, [Miller] was affecting him. … You could feel him out there the whole game. He was phenomenal."

The Ringer's Ben Solak broke down a perfect example of a trap from Miller, who had the PFF grade of 64.4 heading into the game, and Milano, whose PFF grade was a sparkling 85.6 prior to Week 6. The two men set up Johnson for the game-winning interception with a minute left in the fourth quarter.

It started with Miller, who had two sacks on the day. The man who is the current king of the Ghost Move (which I recently wrote about) — an outside speed move that terrifies and embarrasses offensive tackles — went inside. Miller loves setting up these sorts of clutch rushes with misdirection. Is the tackle anticipating the inside rush? Then he'll speed rush to the outside. Is the tackle getting accustomed to seeing Miller working the edge? He has the ability to break inside.

And that's what Miller did here. The inside move flushed Mahomes wide to the left, which freed Milano to pursue the QB. That disrupted Mahomes' read. He couldn't get the ball to his open receiver — Skyy Moore — and instead forced the ball into a window that wasn't open. And Johnson came firing in for an interception.

Game over.

"Great team play," Miller said postgame. "That's in the job description."

That's a recipe for defensive success. Josh Allen is the reason why the Bills have the No. 1 offense in DVOA. Miller and Milano are the biggest reasons why Buffalo has the No. 1 defense in the same category.

Prior to joining FOX Sports as the AFC East reporter, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @McKennAnalysis.