New England Patriots: Brady/Garappolo almost Montana/Young II
By Stephen Ur
With recent reports coming out about the New England Patriots, it appears like NFL history nearly repeated itself.
The big news out of Foxboro, MA is that New England Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady, reportedly wanted Jimmy Garappolo out of New England. Garappolo was traded to the San Francisco 49ers earlier in the season, so it appears Brady got his wish, if the report is true.
What if that hadn’t happened? Imagine Garappolo was never traded. What would have happened then? There could have possibly been a second coming of Joe Montana and Steve Young, this time in New England.
Garappolo took over the Patriots in 2016 with Tom Brady being suspended for the first four games of the season. In two games started, he threw for 502 yards and four touchdowns.
That got everyone wondering if the Patriots would consider trading or releasing Brady [after the season] and starting Garappolo. If that’s true, it makes sense for Brady, who’s said he wants to play wel into his 40s, to want Garappolo gone.
However, if Brady had been released or traded and Garappolo had taken the starting job, perhaps this could’ve been like Steve Young taking over for Joe Montana.
After taking over for Montana, Young kept the team afloat and even won Super Bowl XXIX for the team. He also set a Super Bowl record with six touchdown passes and now sits in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
During his time with the 49ers, Garappolo threw for 1,560 yards and seven touchdowns. That was under Kyle Shanahan. Imagine he had taken over a Belichick-led team. He could have done well and possibly kept New England afloat, potentially leading them to yet another Super Bowl title.
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Of course, the world will never know now. Garappolo is now running the show in San Francisco and Brady is still the boss for the Patriots. There’s still other – and bigger – problems in New England, but that’s another article for another time.