Tom Brady Suspension: How Does This Affect Patriots?

Tom Brady still may appeal the most recent court decision that re-instated his 4-game suspension, and I hope he does. However if he doesn’t, and he has to serve the 4 games, it will thrust Jimmy Garoppolo into the spotlight as an NFL starter for the first time in his career.

New England’s first four games are at Arizona, and then home against Miami, Houston and Buffalo. All things considered, I like the Pats chances in these games. 3-1 is more than reasonable, with 2-2 being the worst case scenario. The Patriots have a top-tier defense, and arguably the best group of offensive weapons in the league with Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman, Martellus Bennett, Dion Lewis and Chris Hogan.

Yes, Garoppolo is a young, unproven quarterback, but when he has been put into game situations, he has been impressive. With the luxury of a great defense to lean on, and all of these weapons at his disposal, he should be able to do enough to get the Pats at least three victories. Arizona will be a tough game, but I would not be surprised at all if Jimmy came out victorious.

Then, Tom Brady comes back as pissed off as ever, and absolutely destroys the NFL on his way to another Super Bowl. I thought he was going to murder every defense before this news, and now? Good luck, everyone.

Brady combined with these weapons and defense just seems unfair. Garoppolo will do his job, get the Pats through the four games (2-2) at worst, then Brady will take over and bring that fifth ring back to Foxboro (barring any big injuries).

New England should also be looking to add a third quarterback to back up Garoppolo those first four games. I’m not saying draft someone but that becomes a need now. Trading for Nick Foles could be an option, although with how dysfunctional the Eagles are I’m not sure if that would work out.

In addition to this, if Garoppolo plays well, the Patriots could possibly later trade him for a first round pick to a quarterback-needy team. It would also ensure Brady is more than rested for the Patriots’ playoff run come December, although we all know he would be just fine playing all 16 games before murdering everyone in the postseason.

#PrayForTheNFL