Patriots quarterback Bailey Zappe unleashes a pass during last Sunday's game vs. Cleveland. (AP photo)

The quarterback questions with the New England Patriots remain the same, and so do the answers.

As in non-answers.

The more Bailey Zappe plays, the better he looks. The more Mac Jones is out with his bad ankle, the more questions concerning when –and if — he’ll be back as the starter. And what will go in to that decision.

“Well, there isn’t really much to talk about here today,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said on Wednesday. “As you know, Mac’s [Jones] been inactive the last two weeks. So there really isn’t a conversation to be had here. “Hypotheticals and all that, I’m going to stay away from those. We’ll see what we are actually dealing with here as we go forward.”

There’s some more time with the Patriots not playing until they host the Chicago Bears on Monday night. Thus there was no practice on Wednesday, just meetings. But Zappe did address the media, and certainly didn’t shed much light on the situation.

“Yeah, as far as preparation nothing’s going to change,” he said. “I’m going to keep doing the same thing I’ve been doing for the last seven weeks now. With the Monday game we kind of get an extra day to get on to the Bears. Just this week working on some things that we saw the last few weeks of the film. Like fundamental-wise, working on that in practice but other than that nothing’s really going to change at all.”

And Zappe also said he’s figured out a way of dealing with the situation, with a familiar phrase uttered repeatedly by his head coach a couple of weeks ago.

“I think it’s really just taking it day-by-day, every day getting better, getting more comfortable, understanding the plays and understanding the concepts,” he said. “Really just taking it as we keep saying day-by-day and really just getting better every day with it.

“Just doing what I’ve been doing for the last seven weeks. Taking advantage of every rep that I get in practice. Just trying to get better every day. That’s kind of my mindset.”

At the same time, Zappe says he wants to make the most of his chance while he has it.

“Yeah that’s 100% my goal, and it’s very important because you don’t know when your next opportunity is going to come,” he said. “So, I think once you get that opportunity you’ve got to take advantage of it and hope you get another one. But as far as practice goes, every rep I get to take advantage of it.”

Zappe says keeping a level head is key.

“I think for me it’s still the same mentally the way I approach it,” he said. “I still study the game plan the same way I would whether you said I was third string or a starter. That’s kind of the mentality that I take into it every week. That’s the mentality I’m going to take into this week. I think that’s going to carry on throughout the rest of the year.”

Zappe says that Jones has been very helpful the last couple of weeks.

“Oh, he’s helped a lot,” he said. “Of course, he’s been in the league for a whole other year above me. I’ve been able to pick his brain. I’ve been able to ask him questions, and he’s been giving me great feedback answering them. He’s a lot of help.”

Belichick said there’s not much change in how the team will game plan when asked if he has to prepare two different game plans depending on who the QB is.

“I wouldn’t say two different plans,” he said.”No. But again, we’ll get ready for the Bears. Again, there’s always players in a situation where there’s some uncertainty about their availability. That’s the way it is every single week.

“So depending on who those players are, what the plays are, what we’re talking about, they’re all kind of a little bit different. But we’ll manage them the best we can.”

PATS ADD RECEIVER

The Patriots announced Wednesday that they have signed wide receiver Raleigh Webb to the 53-man roster off the Baltimore practice squad. In addition, the Patriots signed DL Ron’Dell Carter to the practice squad.

The 6-foot-2, 213-pound Webb, originally signed by the Ravens in May as a rookie free agent out of The Citadel,began the season on the Baltimore practice squad but was elevated to the active roster for the games vs. Miami and at New England in a special teams role.

Carter, meanwhile, spent time with Arizona and Pittsburgh in the 2022 offseason. Overall, he has played in four NFL games; three with Dallas in 2020 and one in 2021 with Houston.