New England Patriots: What To Expect From Jimmy Garoppolo In The First Four Weeks

To say Jimmy Garoppolo has been training to relieve Tom Brady one day would be an understatement. Garoppolo and his throwing coach, who has been with him for years, have always used Brady’s film for footwork and throwing mechanics. Garoppolo was an extremely productive quarterback at Eastern Illinois. During his senior season he threw for more than 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns. In addition he trained specifically as Brady’s understudy to be his heir apparent during rookie season with the Patriots last year. Granted his time to take the reigns were expected to be much later down the line Garoppolo will be extremely prepared to manage the game.

For the sake of argument let’s say Tom Brady’s suspension remains at 4 games. That would leave Garoppolo to take on the Steelers, Bills, Jaguars and Cowboys. All of their defensive units except for the Bills were ranked in the bottom half of the league last year. Then when u account that the Steelers lost so much on that side of the ball, the jaguars being the jaguars, which is usually horrible, especially with the unfortunate injury to Dante Fowler, and the suspension of Greg a Hardy for the Cowboys. I doubt they will have a significant turnaround beginning of the season. Rex Ryan on the other hand is the new head coach of the Bills. He is the only man that knows all of Brady’s tendencies. So granted we all want 12 under center giving Rex a different look may shake things up a bit. I’m fine with Brady only dealing with Rex once this season.

Jan 10, 2015; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) and Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo (10) walk thru the tunnel prior to their 2014 AFC Divisional playoff football game against the Baltimore Ravens at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

It’s far more likely now that defenses will try to force Garoppolo to beat them because I’m sure Bill Belichick an Josh Mcdaniels will try to establish a significant run game. Defenses will double team Julien Edelman and Gronk while trying to stuff the box. Quite frankly what else is new; that’s the same game plan for Brady, which never works anyway. Although I have previously mentioned that Garoppolo has trained to be Brady’s duplicate; the one difference I’ve noticed between the two is that Jimmy G has more eagerness to push the ball down the field. So if defenses load the box too much to stop an exaggerated run game I expect a lot of play-action bombs to Brandon Lafell and Briam Tyms.

Garoppolo is still young so let’s not put too much on him yet and anoint him the second coming of Brady. He will make mistakes, force some throws, and possible throw a few picks but he will score too. Brady wasn’t the biggest numbers guy at the beginning of his career but he did win. Let’s view the “potential” suspension as a blessing in disguise because first off we get a sneak peak into what could life be like after Brady. Secondly, it makes the preseason that much more entertaining for patriots fans because Garoppolo should play almost every snap for preparation. So overall we should see eight games of Jimmy G and unlike when Matt Cassel took over Brady won’t be injured. He will be right next to him telling him what he sees on the field. The lastly and the best part when all the Jimmy G hysteria ends a hungry Tom Brady will be licking his chops to take the field to face the Colts. The main culprits for starting all this controversy. If that isn’t poetic justice I don’t know what is.