Perhaps in a bit of a shock, the third string quarterback for the New England Patriots, rookie Bailey Zappe is the first rookie QB to throw a touchdown. I’m sure it was a bit of a shock for Zappe to get his first game action in the NFL so early into the season.
After Mac Jones went down with a high ankle sprain in week three, Brian Hoyer was then the starter as Jones began his healing process. Because of that, Zappe was then elevated to the backup quarterback role.
As we all know, it only takes one play for a backup to be launched into action. For Bailey Zappe, that was the case. After Brian Hoyer left the game with a concussion, Zappe was tasked with guiding the New England Patriots through one of the hardest places to play in the NFL, Lambeau Field.
I’m not sure the Patriots could have asked him to do more. It clearly wasn’t the prettiest, but Zappe still went 10/15 for 99 yards and a touchdown pass. His first career touchdown pass came with about five minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Unfortunately, it was clearly a delay of game penalty that the officials simply didn’t call. On the play, Zappe had good protection from the offensive line, and floated a ball to a wide open DeVante Parker. The thrown wasn’t perfect and didn’t hit Parker in stride, but he was open by several yards, so Parker had to make a very small adjustment to reel the catch in.
I’m sure it wasn’t exactly the way Bailey Zappe thought he’d throw his first touchdown, but he did it in arguably the hardest place to play in the NFL. The game also went into overtime, which I am sure many of us were surprised about. It nearly ended in a tie, but a game winning field goal by Mason Crosby sealed the victory for the Green Bay Packers.
In some ways, I think this could have been a bit of a moral victory for the Patriots. Being down their top two signal callers and still giving the Packers a run for their money was nothing short of a heroic effort.