The Patriots’ internal processes throughout the years have left them largely immune to the hot take community, which was unable to penetrate a strategy that was based wholly and painfully on common sense throughout a two-decade run of unparalleled success.
But what if those same processes have almost created the perfect hot take of the Bill Belichick era, now that Bailey Zappe has played incredibly well over the course of three games (two starts), including this Sunday in a 38–15 win over the Browns?
Call this historically informed speculation, the kind of hypothesis that is as obvious as any truism in the book of Belichick: He has been largely unfazed by the politics of the quarterback position throughout his career. This was the case when it came to Bernie Kosar, a franchise legend whom he released in Cleveland, and Drew Bledsoe, a franchise legend whom he benched en route to a Super Bowl in New England. Tom Brady’s career trajectory may not have existed with most other franchises, because nearly any other coach would have kowtowed to the pleadings of an owner to start the player on a track for the Hall of Fame instead of the sixth-round draft pick. Most coaches would also be too afraid of losing their jobs to disagree.
