FRANKFURT, Germany — Patriots backup quarterback Bailey Zappe had a golden opportunity to overtake Mac Jones as the Patriots’ starting quarterback in Sunday’s 10-6 loss and frankly, flopped.

The Patriots benched Jones after an ugly interception inside the red zone Sunday and put Zappe on the field with the game on the line in a two-minute drill while trailing by four points. Zappe started the drive 3-of-6 for 25 yards before taking a snap at the Patriots’ 40-yard line on first-and-10 with 36 seconds on the clock.

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He dropped back, faked a snap, faced no pressure and then tossed the ball to 5-foot-8 rookie wide receiver Demario Douglas with a crowd of three Colts defenders around him. It was intercepted by Colts safety Rodney Thomas II to clinch the game in an inexplicable decision.

There did seem to be confusion at the line of scrimmage. The Colts believed the Patriots had false started. Zappe also seemed to believe there was a penalty.

“Uh, yeah. I mean, can’t say what I want to say,” Zappe said, later clarifying that he can’t talk about referees or officiating to ESPN’s Mike Reiss.

“But there’s just, we were kind of behind on time the way we talk about yards — one yard for every second. So, we were trying to get ahead of the time by taking a shot. We figured the play that we had — fake spike, trying to catch the defense off guard, not get the rush going, that worked. But that’s just me trying to force it and make a play, get us ahead on time. Looking back at it, I’d probably just say, throw it incomplete, move on to the next down, try to see if we could take another shot. But I’m sure we’ll look at it tomorrow or Tuesday, and we’ll learn from it.”

Without seeing a flag on the field, there was no excuse for Zappe to make the throw he did. Still, when asked later if he believed he’s fit to start at quarterback, he answered, “100%.”

Zappe has relieved Jones three times this season. He’s 10-of-25 for 104 yards with an interception, and two of his performances came in garbage time of blowout losses.

The second-year pro won his two starts as a rookie but couldn’t push Jones for a starting role this summer and was so bad in training camp and the preseason that he was cut in late August only to be brought back onto the practice squad and then the active roster.

If Zappe starts after the Patriots’ bye, it has more to do with Jones’ struggles than anything Zappe has done in his numerous opportunities over the past four months.