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The New England Patriots dominated the Detroit Lions in impressive fashion, 29-0, in Week 5 to the surprise of many.
Detroit entered Gillette Stadium as the highest-scoring offense in the entire NFL. The fact that New England was able to hold the Lions to zero points.
One of those left surprised by the dominance of the Patriots was YouTuber MMG. With 2.29 million subscribers, the self-described “professional woman respecter” has a large following.
Prior to the Week 5 matchup kicking off, the YouTuber took to Twitter where he predicted that the Lions would win by 13 and declared that the “Patriots are washed.”
Patriots are washed, sadly. Lions by 13 🤗
As one may expect, this take garnered many reactions, especially after New England ran away with the win.
“This aged quite nicely,” one Twitter user said.
Some took the time to alert MMG to a new phrase that is catching fire in New England.
“Don’t worry, be Zappe,” another Twitter user wrote.
How Did Bailey Zappe Perform in His 1st NFL Start?
With Brian Hoyer on injured reserve and Mac Jones ruled out with his high ankle sprain, Zappe got his first NFL start and he didn’t let the opportunity go to waste. The rookie threw for nearly 200 yards and sauced another passing touchdown. While Zappe threw an interception, the blame is on Nelson Agholor who bobbled the ball right into the hands of a Lions defender.
After the win, Zappe told reporters that he felt more comfortable under center.
“Getting another week of practice in, getting mental reps, physical reps taking every day this past week,” he said. “Taking every rep as a game rep. Continuing to work with receivers, O-line before and after practice, and just building that comfortability with everybody. It was a great way to come out this Sunday and get a win.”
What Did Bill Belichick Think of Zappe?
With his performance, Zappe earned plenty of praise. This includes the Patriots head coach who thought that the rookie quarterback showed signs of improvement.
“I thought it was better definitely being able to get in the huddle every day, call a play, see it, execute it, versus watching somebody else do it. That’s always more beneficial,” Belichick told reporters. “But he learns well whether he is in there or not. Yeah, it was good. There was definitely an element of that. I couldn’t put a percentage on it or anything, but certainly it helped. He was confident out there. He does a good job. He does a good job of seeing the game and can come off and identify and articulate what he saw, what happened. That’s usually right.”
“What he saw is usually what I saw or maybe when you look at the film, maybe there’s something that’s a little gray in there that his explanation is actually good. It was the way he saw it. Maybe he might not have done the right thing, but he saw the game. That goes all the way back to preseason. He played a lot in preseason. I think those snaps were good for him. He learned a lot. We learned a lot. I think there’s definitely some benefit to the playing time that he had in preseason in the games that he has played the last two weeks.”