Zappe completed five passes of over 20 yards Sunday night.

Since Bailey Zappe took over the New England Patriots starting quarterback job in Week 12, the offense has scored more points per game despite their overall success rate dropping off. They’ve also won two of their last four games.

The difference: more explosive plays.

In Zappe’s four starts, the second-year quarterback has completed 12 explosive pass plays (20+ yards) in just 117 attempts. Jones, on the other hand, struggled to consistently push the ball downfield completing just 15 passes of 20-plus yards in 345 attempts.

One of the main reasons Zappe has been able to create more explosives is due to his playmaking ability. Behind one of the worst pass blocking offensive lines in football, Zappe has impressed working the pocket to create more opportunities down the field.

“That’s one thing in the game that was very improved by him,” offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien explained. “He was able to — I always call it, negotiate the pocket, manipulate the pocket. It’s not always perfect, right, and so he does a good job of that. Evan Rosthein works a lot on that with him before stretch and everything every single day and I think that really showed up in the game.

“Bailey did a really good job of that keeping his eyes downfield and negotiating that pocket. He did a really good job there.”

During Sunday night’s victory in Denver, Zappe’s work in the pocket helped trigger New England’s first touchdown drive in the second half. On the first play of drive, the quarterback evaded a rusher and stepped up in the pocket to find DeMario Douglas downfield for 41 yards. New England scored just four plays later.

Two possessions after down inside the red area, Zappe’s playmaking ability struck again. As he’s working through his reads, the QB steps up and buys just enough time to deliver a strong ball to Mike Gesicki in the back of the end zone for another score.

Beyond the highlight reel plays, Zappe’s work in the pocket showed on several smaller key plays as well. After a big play downfield to DeVante Parker on New England’s game-winning drive, Zappe was nearly brought down for a sack — potentially derailing their progress. Instead, he again evades several rushers to complete a check down to Ezekiel Elliott to keep the drive alive and help set up the game-winning field goal.

The playmaking ability is something the Patriots offense was not getting with Mac Jones under center, and one of the biggest reasons the offense has looked better since Zappe took the reins. As O’Brien mentioned, it’s a part of Zappe’s game that he works on every day with assistant coach Evan Rothstein.

“I mean we usually do that stuff every day before practice. We get out there 15, 20 minutes before, have the bags and he kind of walks out there and tells us what drills he wants us to do. But we’re pretty routine about it. We do it every day,” Zappe shared.

“The more you do it, the more it becomes like second nature to you. So, when you get on the field and you’re not really worried about it or thinking about it. It kind of just comes natural, and that’s what you want. You don’t want to be back there worried about the rush. You want to be able to have your eyes downfield. So, that’s really helped a lot, doing that stuff before practice.”

Zappe’s next chance to make plays will come on Sunday in Buffalo, where he’ll matchup with a Bills defense that features the fourth-best pass rush win rate in football.

“I mean they play hard. Their front four, those guys, they’re coming after you,” Zappe said Wednesday.

“So, it’s going to be up to me to try to see the defense pre and post-snap and try to get the ball out. Like coach always says, you can’t make any yards until I get rid of the ball. So, that’s going to be up to me to kind of see what they’re trying to do. It’s going to be hard because those guys play really well.”