Patriots, rookie QB Bailey Zappe dominate Cleveland Browns in win

Starting quarterback Mac Jones traveled with the Patriots to Cleveland after being limited in practice last week due to a high ankle sprain. The Patriots starter, however, sat out Sunday’s contest. Jones, who was inactive, spent the afternoon on the sideline with his teammates.

While he was doing that, rookie Bailey Zappe spent the afternoon carving up the Cleveland Browns defense.

In his second NFL start, the Patriots' fourth-round pick had the best game of his brief NFL career. The Browns were no match for Zappe, nor were they a match for the Patriots dominating defense. Zappe completed 24-of-34 passes for a career-high 309 yards and two touchdowns as the Patriots delivered a decisive 38-15 win over the Browns on Sunday.

The Patriots get back to .500, improving to 3-3.

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There were several standouts for the Patriots on this day. Tight ends Hunter Henry (four catches for 61 yards and a touchdown) and Jonnu Smith (two catches for 61 yards) hurt the Browns secondary on multiple occasions. Rookie Tyquan Thornton scored the first two touchdowns (one receiving, one rushing) of his NFL career. Rhamondre Stevenson (76 yards, two touchdowns) once again showed he could handle the load at running back.

Thanks to the defense, the Pats scored 23 points off four turnovers. With the win, Bill Belichick tied George Halas for the second-most wins by a coach in NFL history with 324.

“Good team win for us on the road,” said Belichick. “Got a lot of contributions from everybody – offense, defense, special teams. Played some complimentary football where we were able to make plays on defense or the kicking game and then convert those on offense. It was good.”

Here’s how it all happened.

Patriots offense started slow

Zappe’s first drive on Sunday was eventful. It led to an early 3-0 lead, but the offense probably came away from that drive frustrated.

Zappe hit Kendrick Bourne (17 yards) and DeVante Parker (29 yards) for big gains on two third downs to move the ball within the red zone. A pass interference call on Cleveland in the end zone set the Pats up for a first-and-goal from the 1-yard line. However, Stevenson was stuffed for no gain on the next two attempts. On third down, Zappe hit Henry in the end zone, but the tight end was called for an illegal touch pass because he stepped out of bounds.

That forced the Pats to settle for a 19-yard Nick Folk field goal at 7:31 of the first quarter. It felt inexcusable considering the Patriots were on the 1-yard line.

The Patriots' second drive was an abject disaster. In five plays, there were two penalties for minus-15 yards and a turnover. With 54 seconds left in the first quarter, Myles Garrett strip-sacked Zappe and Browns safety John Johnson recovered the ball. The third drive wasn’t much better. The Pats picked up a first down due to a pass-interference call, but gained a total of only six yards before punting.

The Patriots finally hit paydirt at 3:23 of the second quarter. Stevenson took a handoff and ran 31 yards for the touchdown to put the Patriots up, 10-3. The offensive line did a great job as Stevenson had a giant hole to run through.

The Patriots' first-half performance was messy. The team committed a season-high eight penalties (for 56 yards) in the first two quarters. According to reports, the eight penalties in one half were the most by the Patriots since the 2014 season.

“Props to my teammates, coaches – calming me down, telling me just to play football,” Zappe said. “That’s the biggest thing, playing football. Just stay at the task at hand, do your job. That’s really about it.”

Patriots defense set the tone

It’s hard to get off to a better start than the Patriots defense did on Sunday.

On the second play of the game, safety Kyle Dugger intercepted Jacoby Brissett at 14:28 of the first quarter. The safety made a great read on the veteran quarterback’s pass and the defense was off and running after shutting out the Lions a week ago. That turnover led to a field goal and an early Patriots lead.

The Browns had more success on their second drive. Brissett hit tight end David Njoku for a 33-yard gain on third-and-10. That led to a Cade York 38-yard field goal at 3:00 of the first quarter to tie the game, 3-3.

Following a Patriots turnover, the Browns took over 38 yards away from their own end zone. What transpired was another impressive defensive effort. After picking up a first down, the Browns stayed on the field for fourth-and-1 at the 18-yard line. The decision was costly. On the play, Brissett kept the ball, but was stuffed by Matthew Judon for no gain and a turnover on downs resulted. It was reminiscent of last weekend when the Pats defense stopped the Lions on all six of their fourth-down conversion attempts.

“Everything is clicking together,” said Deatrich Wise. “We still have some tings to clean up. We have to watch some film and see where that’s at, but right now, we’re doing a great job. We started last week to keep the momentum going and we did the same this week.”

Browns received another field goal from York, from 48 yards out with 26 seconds left in the second. The Pats went into halftime leading, 10-6.

Patriots cleaned up their act in the second half

Despite the early miscues, the Patriots limited their mistakes after halftime and the Browns couldn’t keep up in the second half.

The Pats opened the third quarter with a touchdown drive. Zappe hit Smith for a 53-yard catch and run. Five plays later, Zappe hit rookie receiver Thornton for a 2-yard touchdown at 11:22 of the third quarter and the Pats led, 17-6.

Later in the third, the Patriots defense stepped up again when Mills intercepted Brissett at 7:13 of the third quarter. The Patriots followed the turnover with a touchdown. Three plays later, at 5:32 of the third, Zappe hit a wide-open Henry for a 31-yard touchdown to give the Pats a commanding 24-6 lead.

“Everything is clicking together,” said Deatrich Wise. “We still have some tings to clean up. We have to watch some film and see where that’s at, but right now, we’re doing a great job. We started last week to keep the momentum going and we did the same this week.”

The Browns received another field goal from York, this one from 51 yards out at 14:35 of the fourth. The next drive saw Folk miss a 45-yard attempt. That happened after the ball was pushed back 15 yards due to a Zappe intentional grounding call. The miss broke Folk’s streak of 64 made kicks inside 50 yards, which is an NFL record.

The Browns then made things interesting. Brissett hit Amari Cooper for a 15-yard touchdown with 6:17 remaining. Brissett’s 2-point conversion pass was incomplete, so the Pats led, 24-15. The Browns then appeared to have executed a perfect onside kick with Cleveland’s AJ Green recovering the ball. However, Green touched the ball while out of bounds so officials reversed the call, giving the Patriots the ball.

The Pats punted in the ensuing series, but returner Chester Rodgers muffed the punt. Patriots rookie Brenden Schooler recovered the ball. On the next play, Thornton took a jet sweep 19 yards for his second touchdown of the game and the Pats led, 31-15.

On the next series, Carl Davis stripped Brissett of the ball and recovered the fumble. Three plays later, Stevenson ran in for a 6-yard touchdown and it was all over.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Bailey Zappe leads Patriots to dominant win over Cleveland Browns