While many fans came to the first day of Patriots training camp to see Brady work out, Garoppolo’s performance generated some buzz.
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Thursday marks the first public practice for the Patriots and for Bill Belichick, it’s time to start getting his team ready for another National Football League season. The silver lining in Brady’s four-game suspension for “Deflategate” is that Bill Belichick can determine if Garoppolo is the future.
Later, during 11-on-11 practice, Brady found himself a victim of the Patriots ball-hawking secondary.
At the same time, the Patriots need to do everything in their power to make sure Garoppolo is prepared enough to at least believe he can win every game he starts.
Can Brock Osweiler lead the Houston Texans over the migty Jimmy Garoppolo?
“Yeah, I don’t know”, he responded. “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 it stands after just one day of practice, Garoppolo said he isn’t feeling jitters over an Opening Day that is more than six weeks away. Now that Brady is out for four games, Garoppolo has a chance to do the same, and it starts with training camp. He played well in preseason past year – before Brady’s suspension was overturned prior to the 2015 season – completing 61 of 80 passes for 554 yards, two TDs and two INTs while posting a solid 92.4 passer rating. Garoppolo and other Patriots have made a point of saying that at the beginning of camp, there’s no set-in-stone rotation of players.
Rumors are quickly turning into attractions as Fitzpatrick can be in New England this season.
“That’s why we play the game”, he said. The next few home games are Cincinnati, Seattle, and Los Angeles; all three boast strong defenses with two of the three being serious Super Bowl contenders.
Can the presence of coach Adam Gase validate the decision to make such a big investment in quarterback Ryan Tannehill? “The way he moves the pocket”. Jimmy Garoppolo is the backup, and the team also drafted Jacoby Brissett this year.
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The NFL world is high on the 24-year-old Garoppolo, and given his youth, compared with the 38-year-old Brady, some have suggested he could maintain the starting job, even when Brady returns in Week 5.
