Patriots’ preseason ‘priority’ remains an incomplete mystery
COMMENTARY
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady looked OK in his final preseason tuneup for the 2016 NFL campaign on Thursday night against the New York Giants.
Hopefully his performance — 166 passing yards, one touchdown, and one interception — gave head coach Bill Belichick some inkling of what to expect out of the future Hall of Fame quarterback when he returns to action.
In 38 days.
As for Jimmy Garoppolo, who will, of course, get the nod in the season-opener at Arizona in nine days, well, who knows?
September’s de facto starter didn’t see a second of action in New England’s only defeat of the preseason, a 17-9 loss to the Giants, who yet again put a wrinkle in New England’s quest for perfection. That’s usually the normalcy of the fourth preseason game as far as the starting quarterback is concerned. Brady hadn’t played in a final tuneup since 2011 since there’s no sense in risking injury in a contest that’s mainly played for picking the final pieces of the roster, which is football-speak for “gate receipts.”
But this game presented itself with an entirely different set of circumstances, seeing how the four-time Super Bowl winning quarterback will be suspended the first four weeks of the season for something about improperly recycling his cell phone.
Garoppolo is the man of the moment for the Super Bowl-hopeful Patriots, and nobody has the slightest clue how this procedure is going to work out.
This is a kid, after all, with all of 31 passing attempts in the NFL over his first two seasons. That’s almost half as many as Brady made (56) in his last game of importance, January’s AFC Championship loss to the Denver Broncos. He had a 95.1 quarterback rating in the three preseason games in which he did play last month. He didn’t turn the ball over, and had a pair of encouraging outings against the New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears without Brady huffing over Belichick’s shoulder about playing time.
Last week against the Carolina Panthers though was a cause for concern.
If the third preseason game is the one during which coaches most try to get a feel for their starters, then Belichick did himself a disservice in failing to maximize what Garoppolo might deliver against Carolina’s starting defensive unit. Garoppolo started the game, was replaced by Brady — for whatever reason — then thrust back into the game, one he ended with only nine completions and a 67.9 quarterback rating. It wasn’t great.
Nor did it do the Patriots coaching staff any favors in trying to determine how Garoppolo might be able to handle the pressure in Arizona, leaving Thursday night’s game against the Giants as a clear opportunity to get a final feel.
Except, nope.
Brady ended up playing the entire first half before giving way to rookie Jacoby Brissett, and now the Patriots get ready to prepare for the Cardinals with a total wild card under center, where the cerebral and physical potency of Brady normally resides.
Must feel strange for Belichick, who has rolled in success with Brady for the past 15 years, right?
“I don’t know,” he said.
Well, it probably will though.
Luckily for Belichick and the Patriots, Brady escaped Thursday’s meaningless contest without getting hurt. Granted that’s a prevalent concern in the football world, but an incident for which New England’s coaches wouldn’t be able to forgive themselves for should it have happened in an exhibition game in which the franchise quarterback really had no business playing. But if Brady wanted to play, then apparently he’s at the point of his career where Belichick will bow to his wishes. Damn the risk.
“Well, you can’t take insurance out on players,” Belichick said. “If you play football, then you play football. I don’t know how you get better at playing football without playing football. You can stand around and talk about it all day, but I don’t really think that makes you a better player. At some point, you’ve got to get out there and play. You tell me.”
Agreed.
So, where was Jimmy Garoppolo, coach?
You tell me.
If, indeed, the “priority” of the preseason was to get Garoppolo ready for the start of the season, a mission that Belichick termed a “comprehensive process” in his initial press conference of training camp back in July, then why was the 24-year-old standing around on the sideline a little more than a week before making his prime-time television debut in Arizona with the heavy aura of uncertainty trailing him?
“In the meantime we have to prioritize the first part of our schedule and that’ll be to get Jimmy ready to go,” Belichick said that same day.
Does Jimmy really feel anywhere near ready to go?
At least Brady saw his playing time, which I’m sure will be of good value when he gets ready to play the Cleveland Browns.
In five weeks.
“I’m happy I was able to play as much as I did,” Brady said. “Coach and I talked about it and it was a good opportunity to get out there and play. I hadn’t played much in the preseason, so just to get out there and feel out some game action.”
Brady made 35 pass attempts over his two games this preseason. Garoppolo, who has the seasoning of a Saltine compared to Brady, made 36.
Does that seem like the “priority” was met?
The Patriots open the season next Sunday in Arizona. Good luck getting on handle on what you can possibly expect.
“I’m sure I’ll be very curious and watching it at some level,” Brady said.
Join the club.
Fall runs in the Boston area
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