Unconventional Preview: All right, Jimmy Garoppolo, that was good — now do it again
With their talented pass rush, the Dolphins could be a tough test for the Patriots QB.
COMMENTARY
Welcome to Season 5, Episode 2 of The Unconventional Preview, a serious-but-lighthearted, occasionally nostalgia-tinted look at the Patriots’ weekly matchup that runs right here every weekend.
The Patriots opened the season last Sunday night in impressive fashion, knocking off their fellow conference title-game loser from last season, the Arizona Cardinals, 23-21, despite being 9 ½ point underdogs. (Note: The Unconventional Preview picked the Patriots, 23-17. The Unconventional Preview also thought Rob Gronkowski would play. Call it half a humblebrag.) Jimmy Garoppolo was poised and precise in his first start, leading the Patriots to an early lead and a late rally while finishing with 264 passing yards and a 106.1 quarterback rating. His performance was the absolute best-case scenario come to life.
Before we anoint him Tom Brady’s successor or put a trade value on him of three first-round picks, however, there will be further challenges to overcome. And one arrives in Foxborough Sunday. The Dolphins, under new head coach Adam Gase, flashed some impressive attributes in a 12-10 loss at Seattle, including a ferocious pass rush that beat up Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson. If Ndamukong Suh decides that Sunday will be one of his max-effort days and Mario Williams (presuming he plays — he was in concussion protocol all week) and Cameron Wake are charging off the edge against the Patriots’ inexperienced tackles, Garoppolo will find himself having to make some very quick decisions. He made the right ones against the Cardinals. Is he up for an encore in start No. 2?
Kick it off, Gostkowski, and let’s get to it …
THREE PLAYERS I’LL BE WATCHING NOT NAMED TOM BRADY, BECAUSE TOM BRADY GOT RAILROADED BY A SNIVELING TOADY OF A COMMISSIONER AND WILL MISS 25 PERCENT OF THE SEASON FOR SOME INEXPLICABLE AND UNJUST REASON. (AS YOU MAY HAVE HEARD.)
Arian Foster: Remember when the longtime Texans running back showed up at Fenway to take in a ballgame in June? And remember how the sleuths among us who don’t need much of a clue to claim a case is solved immediately determined that this meant he was coming to the Patriots? That was fun, wasn’t it? As it turned out, the 30-year-old Foster signed with Miami a month after his Boston holiday. I might as well admit it: I wish he’d ended up here. He’s some distance from durable now, having played a total of 25 games the previous three seasons, and he’s actually listed as questionable this week with a hamstring injury. But he’s one of the more versatile backs in the league, and the Patriots don’t have anyone with as varied a skill-set. He had a 100 total yards in his Dolphins debut, and if he’s a go for Sunday, the Patriots can expect to see a lot of him.
Martellus Bennett: Don’t know about you, but I couldn’t have been more impressed with Bennett’s Patriots debut, which is saying something given that he had just three catches for 14 yards against the Cardinals. I had no idea he was such a capable — and willing — blocker. He was downright essential in the running game, once getting called for a penalty for embarrassing his man so badly that it looked like it had to be holding. (It wasn’t.) I imagine he’ll be more prominent in the passing game this week, especially if Gronkowski is out again. Not long ago, I was someone who thought there was at least a slim possibility that Bennett would be the annual stunning cut at the end of training camp. Instead, one game in, he’s already contributing in unexpected ways, at least to the likes of me who didn’t recognize all that he was capable of doing.
Ryan Tannehill: In my column following the win over the Cardinals, I suggested that Jimmy Garoppolo, one start into his career, was probably already the second-best quarterback in the AFC East, after the fairly accomplished guy he’s replacing for a quarter of the season. I meant it somewhat facetiously — I’m going to need at least two wins before I put him in Canton — but it would not surprise me at all if that is the perception even outside of New England after his four-game stint is up. It would not surprise me if he turns out to be very good: He throws accurately and with zip, moves well, and seems to be able to make sense of the chaos around him during a play. But I also don’t think the other quarterbacks in the AFC East are very good. That includes Tannehill, and maybe that’s not fair. He did drop 350 yards on the Patriots in the regular-season finale last year, he has led the Dolphins to wins over the Patriots in back-to-back seasons now, and he does have some decent numbers, including back-to-back seasons of more than 4,000 passing yards. Let’s leave it at this: If he outplays Garoppolo Sunday, I’ll give him his due. Not sure I’ll have to, though.
Grievance of the week: The Patriots are in first place in the AFC East one week into the season and Gronk and Tom Brady have not played a snap yet. Brady’s understudy, Jimmy Garoppolo, suddenly looks like an enormous asset, something that would not have been revealed had Roger Goodell’s power-mad ways not afforded him the opportunity. (Deflategate is forever unjust, but we can find a silver lining in even a league-mandated black cloud, right?) Rex Ryan is in midseason laughingstock form in Buffalo, and Darrelle Revis is playing as if he wants to return to the Patriots as a Terrell Buckley-type ballhawking nickleback next year after the Jets eat his eight-figure salary in the offseason due to poor performance. Hell, we don’t even have to put up with Jim Nantz and Phil Simms on the Patriots’ first CBS appearance of the season. It’s Greg Gumbel and Trent Green on the call, with old friend Jamie Erdahl on the sideline. A grievance you say? Nope, no grievance here. All is right in the football world, brothers and sisters. All is right.
Billy Volek? Joe Esposito? Who are these people? Did you see this? Tell me you saw this:
Great Garoppolo stat from Elias, via @flasportsbuzz. How about that @scottzolak?? pic.twitter.com/YRcJiWg5te
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) September 13, 2016
A Random Quarterback Name Generator couldn’t come up with four more arbitrary QBs to have achieved such a feat than Rob Johnson, Brad Johnson, Billy Volek, and the one and only Zo, a capable and popular backup during the Drew Bledsoe years. Now, as you may know, he is as famous as he’s ever been in his role as the “Your Love”-loving analyst who always seems to be on verge of shouting himself hoarse on the Patriots’ radio broadcasts. But he did have his highlights as a player, and at a time when highlights weren’t always easy to come by around Foxborough:
I don’t know what my favorite thing is about this clip. All 79 seconds are pretty great. Wait, I do know: It’s that it’s set to The Karate Kid theme song, “You’re The Best Around,’’ by maybe one-hit wonder Joe Esposito, which is just a perfect choice for a Zo highlight reel whether taken seriously or ironically. Zolak was the best thing about the 1992 Patriots, replacing Tommy Hodson (who replaced Hugh Millen, and yes, these were Patriots quarterbacks before Bledsoe/Brady and they were bad, kids) and leading them to their only two victories of the season. Those wins came in Weeks 11 and 12. If things go according to plan Sunday, this year’s Patriots will have their second win … in Week 2. Different times, folks. Back when Zo came on the scene, all we could hope for were folk heroes. Real football heroes weren’t coming around New England then at the rate they do now, that’s for sure.
Prediction, or isn’t the underdog the one that’s supposed to want revenge? The dominance is almost unfathomable even though we’ve been here to witness it, but the Patriots have won the AFC East a ridiculous 13 times in the last 14 seasons. The Dolphins, coincidentally, are the team to break that streak, winning a tiebreaker with the Patriots in 2008 when both teams finished 11-5, otherwise known as the year that Belichick made Matt Cassel rich. Given the Patriots’ dominance, you’d think it would be their division opponent who entered this matchup with a greater thirst for vengeance. But that doesn’t seem to be the case here. See, the Dolphins beat the Patriots in the regular-season finale last year, 20-10, a game that mattered to Belichick’s team in terms of playoff seeding and ultimately played a role in their failure to reach Super Bowl 50. Belichick referred to that game as “disgusting” early this week, and in retrospect, it was. The Patriots goofed around for a half, running the ball play after play while for some reason having the likes of Brady and Gronkowski on the field at the same time. By the time they decided to play, the Dolphins, who had nothing to play for whatsoever, were relishing their role as spoiler. The Patriots deserved to lose. Belichick made sure the media remembered that this week, which is a damn good sign that he was making sure his team remembered it. I think it’s going to be a tough one — the Dolphins will get after Garoppolo — but the Patriots will show up much readier in September than they did in January. Patriots 27, Dolphins 17.
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