Jimmy Garoppolo has given the Patriots something they desperately needed: room for error
The Pats are in good shape despite Garoppolo's injury.
COMMENTARY
Mo Lewis will forever be remembered as the linebacker who launched Tom Brady’s Patriots career, and now Kiko Alonso goes down as the linebacker who preserved it. The thought seems crazy now, but with the way Jimmy Garoppolo sliced and diced the Dolphins on Sunday — making reads, staying calm, firing lasers through pin holes all over the field — it would’ve been impossible for Bill Belichick to ever turn back to his 39-year-old QB. But now thanks to Alonso’s big hit and Garoppolo’s injured shoulder, Brady’s job is safe.
The Hall of Famer dodged a bullet.
And I’m obviously kidding.
Brady’s job isn’t safe. Not after what we saw from Jacoby Brissett. Hell, Garoppolo had two months to prep for his starring role. Brissett had two minutes. And unlike Brady’s debut 15 years ago, at least Jacoby led the Pats to a win. Did you see that one play on the high snap when Brissett snagged the ball with one hand and effortlessly placed it in LeGarrette Blount’s gut? Brady could never do that. And when the last time you saw Brady run a QB sneak up the middle for first down like Jacoby did on Sunday? That’s not in Tom’s repertoire.
And now I’m definitely kidding.
We all know this isn’t Jacoby Brissett’s team.
With Garoppolo down and Brady suspended, the Pats need to sign another quarterback. And there isn’t another one out there who Belichick knows better than Peyton Manning. Peyton’s smart enough to learn the playbook on a short week. He might not want back in for the long hail but he’ll love the short term attention. And I don’t know if you’ve seen Manning lately but he looks great.
He’s down at least two head sizes.
**
OK, no more jokes because there’s nothing funny about what happened to Jimmy Garoppolo on Sunday. It’s a horrible break for the Pats and really tough for him. Even if he somehow only misses a game it will be a big game. Plus Jimmy was on to something special against Miami. That had AFC Player of the Week written all over it. With a healthy Garoppolo the Pats probably spend Sunday’s fourth quarter resting for Thursday instead of desperately fighting off a comeback. Jamie Collins and Patrick Chung don’t run into each other in the end zone. The whole team is better off. There really aren’t any positives when it comes to Garoppolo’s injury — but here are two silver linings:
First, if he’s played his last snap of the season Jimmy went out on a high note like George Constanza. If the Eagles got a first round pick for Sam Bradford the Pats should get three after Garoppolo’s audition. Goodell might still find a way to steal one but two still isn’t bad.
The second silver lining has nothing to do with Jimmy and everything to do with that load of garbage I unleashed at the beginning of this column. That is, without Jimmy on the field there’s no more speculation off of it. Without Jimmy on the field, the next two games aren’t a commentary on the long term future of the franchise, but instead they’re just the next two games. In this case, 120 minutes of football that stand between Tom Brady and a return to action.
On one hand the Pats have nothing to lose between now and then. Given what we’ve seen so far, this team can play with anyone. They’ll be contenders as long as they’re healthy. At full health they’re Super Bowl favorites. Even without that understated confidence, when the season started a lot of people would have been happy with 2-2. The biggest fear was Garoppolo would be incompetent, leave the Pats in a hole and sabotage the entire season. But today a 2-2 worst case scenario isn’t really a worst case scenario.
Most teams would sign up for 2-2 every season.
As it is only four other AFC teams are 2-0. There’s Baltimore but they don’t really count thanks to a pair of close calls against bad teams. Starting the NFL year against the Bills and Browns is like if an NBA season kicked off against the Nets and Washington Generals. After Baltimore, there’s Pittsburgh — and they look real good. Denver, too. And finally there’s Houston. Here comes Houston.
The Patriots are on to Houston.
At 2-0 the Texans will be sky high when they arrive in Foxboro on Thursday. They’re 2.5 point favorites. Back in 2012 they were five and a half point underdogs and strutted into Gillette wearing fancy varsity jackets. Maybe this time they’ll cruise in on Segways? Maybe JJ Watt will give the whole team matching hickeys?
But seriously the Texans do look impressive. They’ve got a real quarterback in Brock Osweiler, a legit running back in Lamar Miller, a top five receiver in DeAndre Hopkins and rookie speed demon Will Fuller is already making an impact. They also have a solid defense that’s frustrated the Bears and Chiefs – and sure it’s the Bears and Chiefs, but let’s not forget who the Patriots are right now. You think Belichick would take Jay Cutler or Alex Smith on Thursday over Jacoby Brissett? He might prefer Andy Reid. Considering the opponent, the short week and the quarterback situation, this might rank among the greatest single game challenges of Belichick’s career.
But he’ll be ready. He has folders of info on Osweiler. Binders of info! He knows his wife’s name, ATM code and sleep number. He knows the coach pretty well, too. And while the Pats know exactly what they’re up against, the Texans have next to nothing on Brissett. They can look at college film but they don’t know what the Patriots have in store. There’s an air of mystery. They’ll add to it however they can. For instance maybe tell three different reporters three different things about the timetable for Garoppolo’s return?
But once the game starts on Thursday the veil will be lifted and New England has no choice but to bear down and do what they did on Sunday against Miami.
No, not almost blow a 24-point lead.
Survive.
Crawl and scrape and sweat bullets with every step — and somehow find a way to out-football the other team. How they get there doesn’t matter. There are no style points for wins. Whether they can get there is another question. But through it all it’s nice to know — thanks to six amazing quarters by Jimmy Garoppolo — the Pats will take the field in Week 5 at no worse than 2-2.
Even nicer — thanks entirely to one big hit by Kiko Alonso — Tom Brady will finally get one more chance to prove himself worthy of that sixth round pick.
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