This Patriots’ quarterback controversy is over just when it was starting to become a possibility
Jimmy Garoppolo looked unstoppable — and then he was gone.
COMMENTARY
Just when it seemed we might have the honest-to-goodness quarterback controversy that nearly everybody would have scoffed about just over a month ago…
The best thing that can be said about the New England Patriots losing quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to a right shoulder injury is that few other teams in the NFL have a future Hall of Famer waiting to take over for a guy who just might have been the league’s MVP through the first six quarters of the 2016 season.
Admit it, by the time Garoppolo threw his third touchdown pass of the afternoon in the first half of the Patriots’ 31-24 nail-biting win over the Miami Dolphins, you were debating whether or not the 24-year-old fill-in for Tom Brady would yield a better return in a trade than the four-time Super Bowl winner. Would Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones be more apt to surrender two first-round draft picks for a kid with only two starts under his NFL belt, or in exchange for the 39-year-old best QB of all time?
It was a fun deliberation. For all of about 10 minutes.
Not that he realistically did anything to lose it in the first place, but Brady’s job is officially safe for when he returns to action in Week 5 against the Cleveland Browns. Garoppolo, who was so impressive last week in an upset win over the Arizona Cardinals, was stellar against the Dolphins, completing 18 of 27 passes for 234 yards. Garoppolo’s quick release and comfort in the pocket had it looking like just another long afternoon for Miami down on Route One. The Patriots built a 21-0 lead, and for all intents and purposes, it seemed like the Dolphins might be eliminated from AFC East contention by the time the two-minute warning came.
Then, Dolphins linebacker Kiko Alonso sidetracked that destiny by planting Garoppolo into the Gillette turf.
Anybody have Jacoby Brissett making his first NFL start by Week 3?
The good news for the Patriots is that Garoppolo’s X-rays reportedly came back negative, which could at least put his possibility of playing Thursday night against the Houston Texans at some slight percentage. But if it has to be Brissett, it puts the Patriots’ coaching staff at a definite disadvantage, needing to simplify the playbook as best they can for the rookie, just when Garoppolo was showing a keen grasp of the game plan in the absence of Brady.
But, hey, what’s the worst that can happen? After Sunday’s win, during which the Dolphins stormed back in the second half after getting lit up by Garoppolo and company in the first half, the possibility of “1-3, Jimmy G” is moot. The worst the Patriots can do without Thomas Edward Brady is a 2-2 mark that most everyone would have been pleased with as a possibility a little more than a week ago. If Brissett must step into the fold, he might be good enough to get past one of the Texans or the Buffalo Bills.
But sorry, there will be no quarterback controversy. Not like the one we had brewing for a little while on Sunday.
Oh, imagine the fun we could have had. It was less than two months ago when head coach Bill Belichick was muttering the Lord’s name in vein over the possibility of extending Garoppolo’s time in the pocket, even after Brady was finished with his four-game suspension for something about not re-upping with an NFL-mandated wireless carrier. What would the price tag for Garoppolo have been around the NFL trading deadline, and based on what the Minnesota Vikings gave up for Sam Bradford (a first and a fourth), could Belichick have held a bidding war for Garoppolo? Hell, what if it was Brady he decided it was time to cut ties with? What if it finally came time that Belichick believed he had the right guy to win without Brady after all these years?
What if Belichick had no choice but to at least address the quarterback controversy nobody wanted?
OK, granted, it’s not like six quarters of football could overshadow what Brady has already done over the course of his career, but Garoppolo was so patient, so impressive against the Dolphins, that it had to give even the biggest No. 12 supporters some level of wonder about the future. Like, would this franchise be better off by hanging onto the quarterback who is 15 years younger than Brady?
Does Garoppolo have it?
Not that it matters now.
Welcome to the Jacoby Brissett era.
For two games. Maybe.
Nothing against the rookie, but the intrigue of Garoppolo-Brady was just beginning to percolate based on how well the third-year player had performed. Nobody expects Brissett to do the same with a Sesame Street playbook.
It would have been fun. Brady vs. Jimmy G.
The controversy that wasn’t supposed to be.
As it turns out, it won’t be.
Bill knew it all along.
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