Otherwise, there’s one thing we can say for certain after New England’s first preseason game of the year – Garoppolo can throw a screen pass and make a 10-yard sideline out throw. No other information was immediately available.
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The Patriots’ fourth-round pick out of Georgia suffered a grotesque injury after landing awkwardly on his elbow in the second quarter of the team’s preseason opener against the Saints.
The New England Patriots opened up the preseason on Thursday and did so without Tom Brady. Garoppolo managed to lead to Patriots to a 17-16 lead at halftime. He also missed the first four games of the 2014 season with more knee issues. Undrafted free agent CB Cre’von LeBlanc might have had the defensive play of the night, intercepting McCown’s pass in the end zone with one hand. Defensively, New England yielded 240.7 yards in passing and 98. yards in rushing. Also out was Rob Ninkovich, who has been absent since leaving practice Tuesday with an arm injury. “Start the game off right, ‘” Edebali said.
At this point, Patriots games take on slightly more intrigue than normal National Football League preseason battles because Jimmy Garoppolo is expected to lead the team in the first four showdowns of the regular season while Brady serves his Deflategate suspension.
A touchdown pass from McCown to Reggie Bell in the fourth quarter shortened the Patriots lead by two points at 24-22, but a failed pass attempt kept the Saints from being able to tie the game back up with a two-point conversion.
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“I think we’re competing pretty well, we’ve got some things we need to execute a little better”, Belichick said. I really came out and the first play, I said, ‘Hey, got to set the tone. That might be a function of it being the preseason, but very rarely did the Patriots dial up anything deep while Garoppolo was in.
