The 10 Worst Patriots Moments of 2023: No. 8

Our offseason countdown continues with the eigth-worst Patriots moment of 2023

We’re in another little pocket of dead time on the NFL calendar before we really start gearing up for the draft, so time to get another one done on our offseason countdown.

Last week was a positive moment, so it’s back to take another bite of the turd sandwiches as we recap The 10 Worst Patriots Moments of 2023.

But first, the list so far:

10. Marcus Jones, Christian Gonzalez, and Matthew Judon are all lost for the season by Week 4.
9. Jakobi Meyers out, Juju Smith-Schuster in.

For Number 8, we have a moment where you only have to laugh, because otherwise you’ll start to cry.

8. Bailey Zappe closes out the Colts game with an unfathomable pick into triple coverage.

In what may have been the worst game of the entire 2023 NFL Season, the New England Patriots “hosted” the Indianapolis Colts over across the pond at in Frankfurt, Germany, on November 12th, 2023. New England was sitting at 2-7, losers of the last two straight and just hoping to hobble into their upcoming bye week intact. The 4-5 Colts were right in the middle of an insanely crowded AFC Wild Card race and hoped to put together back-to-back wins for the first time since September.

Move over, Brady vs. Manning. Make way for Jones vs. Minshew.

This game was, by any metric you want to throw out there, a complete disaster. The Patriots managed a field goal on their opening drive, the Colts answered with a touchdown, and then neither team even sniffed a point until midway through the third quarter, when New England put together a 15-play drive to get another field goal on the board. The Colts then answered with another FG of their own to make it 10-6, and that was where the scoring stopped. It was a game with one touchdown, three field goals, two missed field goals, nine punts (including seven consecutive) and three interceptions.

And perhaps no play was more indicative of how this game, and perhaps even how New England’s season, went then the one that put this one away. Mac Jones started this game, but Bailey Zappe finished it (I’d go into more detail here, but this Colts game isn’t quite done making an appearance on this list, so I’ll save all the bad good stuff for a little later on in the offseason). Fans had been clamoring for Zappe to get the start for some time now, and given the way that Jones played in this one, the change finally happened.

Zappe came into the game down 10-6 with the ball on his own 14-yard line with just under two minutes to play and no timeouts. Here was another chance to make a name for himself, validate the “Zappe Hour” chants, and show the world that maybe Bill Belichick had struck gold with a later-round QB once again.

And in fairness, it started out well. Zappe hit Rhamondre Stevenson, Hunter Henry, and DeMario Douglas to get to the New England 40 with just under a minute left. Still a longshot to find the end zone, but the Patriots were driving. At the very least, it was exciting football, not the absolute dud we’d all been subjected to over the previous two and a half hours.

Then, on 1st-and-10, following a Stevenson run on 4th-and-1 to gain a new set of downs, Zappe rushed the offense to the line to spike the ball and stop the clock. There was 42 seconds left to play, which meant the Patriots likely had to stick to the sideline throws and hope for a miracle. Still, they had a shot.

But instead of spiking the ball and going into a huddle to talk about the next play, Zappe decided to harness his inner Dan Marino/Tom Brady and go for the ol’ fake spike play.

It’s a play that has seen some success over the years; if defenses think it’s a simple clock stop, they’ll often pay less attention and just kind of stand there, giving receivers a jump at the line and the chance to gain a few extra yards. The Patriots have used it a few times, even scoring a touchdown at one point, but it requires pinpoint precision, perfect accuracy, and every single player on the exact same page.

I’m not exactly sure what the playcall was on this one, but the fake Zappe spike seemed to release all three receivers on some kind of levels route, with Hunter Henry wide open in the flat. The smart play here was likely to Henry, who could have gotten out of bounds after gaining about six or seven yards. DeVante Parker was also streaking up the sideline in single coverage, making the deep throw an option; maybe Parker comes down with it or draws a DPI call. At the very least, it likely falls incomplete, stopping the clock anyway.

Instead, Zappe threw a laser straight over the middle to DeMario Douglas, who was blanket-covered by no less than three Colts defenders with a fourth directly in the vicinity. Rodney Thomas barely had to make a break to intercept the pass, slide to the ground, and blissfully end the game.

To recap, Zappe had four options on this play:

• Just spike it to stop the clock.
• Hit Hunter Henry in the flat for a few extra yards.
• Take a shot to DeVante Parker down the sideline and see if they can get a penalty or a big chunk play.
• Throw it to a triple-covered rookie in the middle of the field.

Zappe chose the latter, and that was that.

Between the comical tone of Rich Eisen’s “oh boy” and the look on Bill Belichick’s face after this play, you have to wonder if the young QB had decided to take matters into his own hands and went off script for this one. I have absolutely no idea what he saw on the play, or what compelled him to throw it into triple coverage, but I will admit that it was a fitting end to this game, and any real hope of Bailey Zappe magically being some kind of franchise savior.

Honestly, I probably should have ranked this one higher on this list. This entire game was just a complete debacle from the start, and the way it ended could very well have been one of the lowest points of the entire year for the 2023 Patriots.

But there were just so many crappy moments last year, and as I mentioned this game is going to make another appearance on the list down the road this offseason, so I figured I’d space them out so as not to bludgeon you all over the head to badly with this nincompoopery. Thus, here we find the play at No. 8.

If you dare, watch the play here, for no other reason than to see Belichick’s reaction.

To give some praise to the poor soul who had to put together a highlight reel of this game, click here.