Patriots QB Bailey Zappe

POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE

AUGUST 10, 2023

Q: Talk about the pass with Tyquan Thornton.

BZ: The play that was called, he had a MOR, a mandatory release vertical go route. They just so happened to cloud that side. For us it’s like a whole shot. That’s kind of my set when I was going in. I was waiting for the corner to squeeze down on the out. I was able to put it up there and give Tyquan a chance to go up there and get it. He made a heck of a play. It was nice to see him go up there and get it. That’s props to him for that.

Q: What is the message here after the game? Obviously, I would assume offensively probably not as productive overall as you would want, but how would you break it down, Bailey?

BZ: Yeah, I mean, like every game there’s goods and bads. The good part about it, we’re in preseason still. Come tomorrow we can watch film. We can learn from the bad and improve on the good stuff. It’s not always as bad as you think and it’s not always as good as you think when you go back and look at the film. That’s the good part about it. We get to go back tomorrow and get back to work.

Q: From practice more than tonight, the sidearm stuff, it seems like you’re kind of experimenting. What is the method behind that madness?

BZ: Yeah, you got to keep up with the new trends around the league, I guess. Yeah, that’s something I worked on in the offseason, with QB Country, the people I train with. Just being able to throw around guys, instead of trying to throw it over, try to prevent knockdowns or incomplete balls. Just being able to move in the pocket. Really just throw it around guys. That’s as simple as it can be. Just trying to get it as easy as I can to the receivers and let them do what they’re best at.

Q: Take us inside the quarterback room. You guys are a team and everybody is competing for a spot. When Malik [Cunningham] came in, he did well. You were happy for him. Take us inside that room.

BZ: We want what’s best for the team. We want to win no matter who’s out there. Malik came in and did a phenomenal job, had a really good drive. Scored the only touchdown of the game. Did really good in both the run game and the pass game. It was really nice to see him do that. Especially his first game in the NFL, to be able to go out there and kind of put the jitters aside and play like he did was really good to see. I think like everybody, I’m sure he had those little nerves, little jitters the first play or so. As the drive went on, you could see he got comfortable with it. To be able to see him score a touchdown and how excited he got, was really good.

Q: You’ve been asked about working with Bill O’Brien this year. What was it like being in a game in between series and the communication, the conversations you had? How would you describe going through a game experience, talking to Coach O’Brien, Evan [Rothstein], about what you saw out there?

BZ: Yeah, I mean, I think everything went good. We always talk about clear, concise communication. I think that’s something that we really try to pride ourselves on. That’s big, especially from the quarterback to the offensive coordinator. Being able to see things, they have a different view on the sideline than we do on the field. There’s sometimes when I come off the field and he’s like, ‘Hey, how did you see this?’ and I can tell him, ‘I saw this guy, he slooped a little too far. They had too many guys in the box, so I went this way instead of that way,’ so that’s always a big part of after the series going into the next series, kind of hashing things out like this is what is going on, this is the front they’re giving us, these are the pressures, these are the runs that we feel like can really exploit the defense. That’s kind of how the conversations go, like, off the field after a series going into the next one.

Q: How would you characterize your relationship with the rest of the quarterbacks in that room, including Mac Jones?

BZ: I mean, I think the quarterback room, like I said, we all want to win. That’s the main objective of everybody on this team. We want to do what’s best for the team. I mean, that’s pretty much as simple as it can be.

Q: You got to play with Anthony Firkser tonight. Talk about what he brings to you guys, especially as a veteran.

BZ: Yeah, Anthony is a great tight end. He’s really great for our tight end room. I think we have really good depth at the tight end room, and many of the rooms as we have on the offensive side of the ball. Firk has been like everybody, improving every day. Getting better route running, catching, just like everybody else has this training camp. I think he’s done really a really good job like everybody else has in that room. I’m really excited about the tight end room this year. I think we have a lot of great guys in that room.

Transcripts are provided by the Patriots media relations department as a courtesy to the media and are edited for readability. All press conferences are posted and archived in their entirety on patriots.com. The duplication or posting of this transcript in its entirety as original content is prohibited. Media are encouraged to link to the complete transcript on patriots.com when sharing full quotes with their audiences.

–PATRIOTS–

Download the Word document here: BZappe081023