Greg Hardy Suspension Reduced, Will Debut Against New England Patriots
The biggest NFL news on Friday was the reducing of Greg Hardy’s suspension to four games. This development should interest New England Patriots fans because that will mean Hardy will debut for the Dallas Cowboys in Week 5, which is when the Pats will be playing in the House That Jerry Built.
As noted by Schefty, Tom Brady will be on the sidelines for that game if his appeal fails to change anything. Remember that the Patriots have a Week 4 bye (without question the most unfortunate bye week to have), so although Brady and Hardy both have four game suspensions, Brady won’t make his 2015 debut until Week 6.
Cowboys DE Greg Hardy now scheduled to return Week 5 against Patriots in a game NE currently not slated to have suspended QB Tom Brady.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 10, 2015
As if the Patriots-Cowboys matchup needed any more hoopla, the beginning of the Hardy era in Dallas will make that gargantuan stadium rock that much more. Expect the Cowboys to let their prized offseason addition run wild on blitzes, and expect the Dallas defense as a whole to play with renewed ferocity.
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If Brady’s suspension remains at four games, then this will likely be Jimmy Garoppolo’s fourth game as the starting quarterback. By the time Week 5 rolls around, Garoppolo will have played in three games and had a few weeks off to study film and work out the kinks in his game. So it will be Garoppolo who will be the target of Hardy when he debuts in front of a sellout Dallas crowd, as things stand right now.
But if Brady’s suspension gets bumped down even just one game, the complexion of this game will change entirely. Hardy will be that much more hungry to rack up the first sacks of his Dallas career, as Brady is every pass rusher’s dream.
No matter how you slice it, this will be one hell of a game. If Garoppolo is playing quarterback, the intensity will be plenty high enough, and if Brady is suiting up, then this will be the most anticipated game of the 2015 regular season.