I've said for the last two weeks that you need to spend some real time with Mac as your starter this year to figure out if that's a place where you need an open competition heading into next year, since after next year is when you need to make your decision on the 5th-year option for him. I didn't like what I saw from him last night, as he seemed jumpy in a shitty pocket, unwilling to throw into the tight windows that were available, and then his pick was obviously not a good throw and a great play by the DB. But plenty of QBs have a bad half. Plenty of players have a bad half. Mac has basically never struggled in his athletic life. We need to see how he responds to it. We need to see if he steps his game up or if he turtles. We need to see if he can calm his feet and mind and commit to the tough but makeable throw. Because I'm not ready to believe that 5 games of meh-to-crap is enough to outweigh the really promising 2021 season that we saw from him. If the crap continues for longer? Yeah, I think then you make your decision and make Zappe part of the conversation for the future competition for QB. But even then, as we saw, Zappe has to earn it. Two games don't win a job, just like a bad half doesn't lose a job. You've gotta give players time to adjust and learn. That leash doesn't last forever, but if we simply decide that a quarter of a season or a half a game is enough time to make a decision, we're going to miss out on guys who do develop over time and need to go through those struggles to come out better players on the other side.
