With Brady in line to serve a four-game suspension to start the season, coach Bill Belichick acknowledged Wednesday that now that the team finally has “some definition with Tom’s situation…our priority now is to get Jimmy (Garoppolo) ready for the start of the season”, ESPN.com reports.
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While the first day of camp saw the reps split 50-50 between Brady and Garoppolo, the snaps with the first-teamers in 11-on-11 drills went to Garoppolo as Belichick, twirling a whistle in one hand, monitored his every move.
On the first day of training camp, the New England Patriots battled the heat and began adjusting to the reality of having two starting quarterbacks. Rob Gronkowski is going to catch anything thrown near him – no matter who his quarterback is – and give us a minimum of 12 end zone spikes this season.
“I don’t know how else I can put it. We’re going to get him ready the best that we can”. But it will allow them to use the unfavorable outcome to get a meaningful evaluation of Brady understudy Jimmy Garoppolo.
“He’s just a competitor, a hard worker, which is always great, which always goes good with the team when you have someone that wants it and goes out there and competes”.
As dizzying as the last year-plus has been, Garoppolo says he’s embracing the excitement of the moment.
And not that there’s much pressure on Garoppolo: A fan in attendance held up a sign that said: “TOM IS GOD”.
“I think he’s not handling it as best as he [could]”.
Brady’s show of emotion was one notable storyline from the two-hour-plus practice that took place mostly during a light, steady rain. “So we’ve got to take care of our end and make sure we do our job and make sure we do our part, and what’s happening in New England will happen”.
The New England Patriots are going through training camp, and the major story has been the preparation of Jimmy Garoppolo, the Patriots’ backup quarterback.
– Jacoby Brissett went 4 of 7 with an interception in 11-on-11s and 18 of 30 with the pick overall. But for right now, training camp needs to be all about Garoppolo.
Bill Belicheck is known for being a step ahead of aging veterans, trading them away, cutting them, leaving the rest of us scratching our heads wondering what they are doing.
Unless you are a Patriots fan, you have no idea who about Chris Hogan.
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Of course, there are obstacles we never see coming in July that crop up in October and beyond, some of which have season-altering implications.
