Patriots News: Robert Kraft, Jabrill Peppers, Rhamondre Stevenson and Bailey Zappe

Bailey Zappe appears to be the QB1 for Thursday Night's game vs. the Steelers

Given how the Week 13 game went and ended and how Bailey Zappe wasn't able to accomplish much more with the offense than Mac Jones had, there was some speculation that a quarterback change-up would be happening for a second week in a row. That appears not to be the case, as Zappe was the guy speaking to reporters on Tuesday, a sign that he will be the starter on Thursday.

While standing at the podium, he was asked that very question but chose to coyly respond and leave the announcement to be made up to Bill Belichick.

"Coach has, you know, made it pretty clear. But I’ll let him announce it to everybody. That’s private right now, and whenever he announces it, that’s with him."

Perhaps because they play on a short week, Belichick decided it was best to stick with Zappe rather than hand the keys back to Mac Jones or see what Malik Cunningham could do. If that's the thinking, it makes sense. But when looking at how last week's game progressed, with Zappe unable to lead the offense to even within field goal range and the Patriots ultimately lost 6-0, it wouldn't be a questionable decision to try out a different guy under center just a few days later.

An inevitable change could happen in the final three weeks of the season, a time when maybe Cunningham gets a shot, or we finally see if Will Grier has been deserving of the chance that many fans believed he had earned.

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