FOXBORO — Expectations for the Patriots are lower than ever with three days remaining until their season opener against the Bengals, but at the very least, the offense should be more watchable this season.

Things turned ugly fast in the final years of Bill Belichick’s tenure as head coach after Josh McDaniels left his post as offensive coordinator and turned the reins over to Matt Patricia and Joe Judge in 2022 and Bill O’Brien in 2023.

The inexperience of Patricia and Judge in their respective roles and O’Brien being paired with offensive line coach Adrian Klemm and an inexperienced staff certainly didn’t help matters, but it’s hard to argue that anyone in the league had worse quarterback play over the last two seasons than the Patriots.

Even though rookie Drake Maye would be a more exciting option as a Week 1 starter, Jacoby Brissett should still provide a significant upgrade at the position over Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe.

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Of 50 qualified quarterbacks over the past two seasons, Jones (-0.075) and Zappe (-0.203) ranked 43rd and 50th, respectively, in expected points added (EPA) per play. Jones was 39th with a 42.7% success rate, while Zappe was 49th at 37.3%. Both players had negative completion percentages over expectation with Zappe ranking 34th at -1.3% and Jones 38th at -1.5%.

Brissett, meanwhile, has been middle of the road over his last five seasons in the NFL. Of 50 qualified quarterbacks, he’s 26th with a 0.084 EPA/play, 28th with a 47.5% success rate and 34th with a -.7% completion percentage over expectation.

Singling out Brissett’s 2022 season, when he and Patriots offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt were both with the Browns, he was 10th with 0.115 EPA per play, 17th with a 48.3% success rate and third with a 2.9% completion percentage over expectation.

The Patriots are not expected to win many games in 2024. In fact, they rank dead last in Vegas win-total odds at 4.5, but their Week 1 starter should not be actively losing games for the team this season.

Turnovers were the bane of the Patriots’ existence in 2023. They ranked 28th with a -11 turnover differential and had the second-most interceptions with 21.

Brissett is actually tied with Aaron Rodgers for having the lowest all-time interception rate at 1.4%. Yes, even Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes, at 1.8%, rank lower. No one in the history of football has thrown interceptions at a lower rate than Brissett.

“He makes the right decisions,” head coach Jerod Mayo said of Brissett on Wednesday morning. “I think he gives us the best chance to win games based on his experience. He’s done it. He’s played out there, and hopefully we can talk about this after the game and there was no turnovers and no interceptions.”

Both Zappe (4.2%) and Jones (3.5%) had interception rates of more than double Brissett’s career average last season. Zappe’s career average is 3.9%, while Jones’ is 2.8%.

Jones had the NFL’s highest turnover-worthy play rate (a PFF stat) last season at 5.8%, and Zappe had the seventh-highest mark at 4%.

Brissett’s career turnover-worthy play rate is 3%. He ranked 22nd out of 41 qualified quarterbacks with a 3.1% turnover-worthy play rate in 2022 under Van Pelt with the Browns, and he’s never thrown more than seven interceptions in a season.

“I think it comes with learning and growing as a player. You kind of have to put your ego to the side. Like, you can’t make every throw, every play,” Brissett said Wednesday afternoon about protecting the football. “Some of those plays call for you to check the ball down, some of those plays call for you to throw the ball away and not force things. Obviously, learning that throughout my years of playing, I think that plays a part of it.”

The Patriots turned the ball over two or more times in eight games last season. They lost all of them, and it’s fair to wonder how much better the 4-13 Patriots would have finished last season if not for all of their turnovers. Zappe threw three interceptions, including a pick-six, in their 27-21 loss to the Bills in Week 17. Jones and Zappe both threw fourth-quarterback interceptions in their 10-6 loss to the Colts in Germany. They combined for three interceptions in a winnable 10-7 loss to the Giants.

It’s not a surprise that Zappe had the second-highest rate of aggressive passes (19.8%) in 2023, as charted by Next Gen Stats, which defines them as “the amount of passing attempts a quarterback makes that are into tight coverage, where there is a defender within 1 yard or less of the receiver at the time of completion or incompletion.”  Jones was fifth at 18.6%. Brissett had the 11th-highest rate in 2022 with the Browns at 16%.

The Patriots’ offense will have enough issues with an inexperienced wide receiver corps and an offensive line that might not be fully settled until a quarter of the way through the season.

So, the last thing Van Pelt can afford is to have a quarterback giving the ball away to the opposing team. That shouldn’t be an issue with Brissett under center until Maye takes over.