As of right now, the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots will be without their future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady when the season begins. Roger Goodell and the NFL suspended Brady for the first four games of the 2015 season despite the Ted Wells report being laughably incomplete and failing to prove Brady had anything to do with deflated footballs. But Brady’s suspension (if upheld) puts the Patriots in a pretty unique position. They will get the opportunity to take a really good look at their 2014 second-round pick: quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.
When the Patriots used their second-round pick on the former Eastern Illinois quarterback I questioned the pick. Not because I doubt Garoppolo’s ability, but because they had other, more important, needs to fill. Well, now it looks like Bill Belichick and the Patriots will be forced to start Garoppolo at the beginning of the season and the second year quarterback has had a tough time in OTAs, particularly at the end of Thursday’s practice when he really struggled. Both Brady and Garoppolo have been splitting reps pretty evenly, but near the end of 11-on-11, both quarterbacks went through two-minute drills. Brady’s backup did not fare well at all, going 23-of-35 with five interceptions.
There is one way and one way only for Patriots fans to view this. No big deal.
First off, to go all Allen Iverson, “we’re talking about practice. Not a game, not a game, practice.” Not only that, but this is a practice at the beginning of June. June! Let’s hold off on hitting the panic button because of some hiccups in OTAs in June in a quarterback’s second season. Plus, Garoppolo is really talented. He has an incredibly quick release and he throws a pretty darn good deep ball. He also possesses really good mobility. He does need to work on becoming more decisive and getting rid of the ball earlier, but that is something Garoppolo can easily work to improve.
Also, at most Brady will miss four games and that’s only if his suspension is not reduced through his appeal. It’s comical that Goodell is the one hearing the appeal, but I still believe Brady’s suspension will be reduced to two games. But let’s assume Brady’s suspension is upheld and he’s sitting for New England’s first four games this season. That means the Patriots will face the Pittsburgh Steelers (home), Buffalo Bills (away), Jacksonville Jaguars (home) and Dallas Cowboys (road) with Garoppolo at the helm. The Jacksonville game is probably a victory for New England. I know you can’t just assume a team will win a particular game at the pro level, but come on. So let’s say the Patriots then win only one of the other three games and start the season 2-2. That is easily doable, even if Garoppolo starts the first four games of the season. It also happens to be exactly the record New England began the 2014 season with before winning 10 of their last 12 games and winning the Super Bowl. Plus, the Patriots’ schedule isn’t exactly a gauntlet the rest of the way. Their schedule is certainly easier than last season’s, where they finished 12-4.
This is not to say that the Patriots will automatically repeat as Super Bowl champions this season, but Garoppolo will be okay come the start of the season. Until Belichick and the rest of the Patriots organization give fans a real reason to doubt, they should trust that New England will be a strong contender come playoff time. Garoppolo starting the first four games and struggling a bit in OTAs does nothing to change that.
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