The Patriots’ Week 14 win over the Steelers was truly a tale of two halves for quarterback Bailey Zappe and the offense as a whole.

Zappe threw for 198 yards with three touchdowns in the first half and just 42 yards and an interception in the final two quarters. The Patriots held on to win 21-18 thanks to the hot start and another impressive performance from the team’s defense.

The Patriots’ new starting quarterback credited everyone around him for starting fast.

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“I think that’s just all to the teammates and coaches,” Zappe said Monday afternoon on WEEI’s “Jones and Mego with Arcand.” “Coaches did a phenomenal job of getting us prepared on a short week, giving us tendencies and things like that that they saw through film and just trying to help us out as much as possible. And then that just translates to teammates on the field — Hunter Henry making plays, JuJu (Smith-Schuster) making plays, offensive line playing their butts off, Mike Onwenu doing his hardest job.

“He actually had the hardest job out of everybody on the field and taking care of T.J. Watt. He did a phenomenal job of that. Just kind of looking back at it, we watched the film today. The offensive line, they really got us going this game. All of the credit to them and what they did. Receivers made plays, made it really easy on me just to kind of throw it to them and they made plays. It was a great game for us.”

Smith-Schuster had his best game as a Patriot with four catches on six targets for 90 yards. Henry caught two touchdowns from Zappe. And Onwenu neutralized Watt, holding the All-Pro Steelers edge defender without an official sack or QB hit.

Zappe was just as quick to blame himself for the Patriots’ second-half woes as he was to credit his teammates with the team’s success to start the game. The Patriots picked up just three first downs in the second half. Zappe threw an interception in the team’s second offensive series of the second quarter. The Patriots’ defense was able to force a turnover on downs on the Steelers’ ensuing drive, however.

“I think that’s just the way the game goes,” Zappe said. “We started out hot the first half. Operation was great. We were moving the ball well. We were getting up to the line, doing everything well.

“The second half, I think that kind of just falls on me. The one drive, I threw a pick. Something that we always talk about is ball security. I didn’t do a very good job of that. I threw an interception. Luckily, they went for it on fourth down. Defense stopped them. So we didn’t really give up any points off the turnover. And then there were plays here and there — an incomplete ball I had or throwing it out of bounds. Trying to not do too much. Not trying to have a turnover. But I think a lot of that second half stuff just falls on me and trying to not make a mistake and trying to make a play. I missed a few balls. I missed a few reads, and that’s just on me.”

The Patriots take on the Chiefs on Sunday at 1 p.m. It seems like Zappe won’t be starstruck with pop star Taylor Swift in attendance to watch her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Zappe said he’s not a fan of Swift’s music and prefers country.