Bill Belichick is good about tweaking his game plan based on his roster and his opponent’s roster.
Advertisement
New England’s defense could keep this close if it can force a few Palmer turnovers and give Garoppolo a short field. Although they allowed 339 total yards per game last season, they return a very strong defensive core led by Jamie Collins and Dont’a Hightower.
Cardinals defensive coordinator James Bettcher estimated Garoppolo has played about 250 snaps in his three years with the Patriots – regular season and preseason combined.
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady sounded a rallying cry to players across the National Football League on Thursday night, calling for them to band together in the coming years during negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. Unfortunately I’ll be doing that again for these four weeks and hopefully I can gain maybe a deeper perspective and maybe one I couldn’t have gained if I was out there playing. Just don’t expect Brady-like numbers because he is far from that. He doesn’t get the ball out of his hands almost as quickly, and it’s not almost as accurate.
Garoppolo, 24, has thrown 31 regular-season passes since being selected in the second round out of Eastern Illinois in 2014, and none of them has come against a hungry, aggressive defense in a Week 1 showdown of two teams expected to be in the thick of the playoff hunt.
He started by praising the inherent ability of Jimmy Garoppolo, whom he compared to Tony Romo. That shouldn’t be a surprise. He then seemed to realize he had said something potentially inflammatory and started to defend himself with the implication that many players in the league shared his opinion before veering off and saying, “I don’t know if you can feel too strongly about it one way or another”.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK: “I’m straight Arizona right now”. Loss was first in a home opener at Gillette Stadium. “Here’s what they do when two tight ends are in the game”. There is no reason to think that won’t continue while Brady is out, and that should not be understated.
Things have changed in Arizona.
“It’s busy, that’s for sure”, Garoppolo said of his week. Tight end Rob Gronkowski and wide receiver Julian Edelman are two of the best in the league at exploiting the seam, especially against aggressive pass rushes, and the Patriots will likely attempt to use battering ram LeGarrette Blount on early downs to keep Garoppolo out of risky down-and-distance situations – although one can never fully predict how Belichick and McDaniels will attempt to attack a defense. Will it have the same pace or will Belichick slow the game down and try to limit possessions?
Here’s what Minter knows about Garoppolo: He’s accurate, he’s a mobile quarterback and he’s athletic.
In order to do that, don’t be surprised if Week 1 turns into a LeGarrette Blount game.
Either way, it’s likely that Garoppolo and the Patriots offense will have their problems against the Arizona defense. This is an abstract impediment to Garoppolo’s success.
It isn’t certain that Garoppolo’s top target will play. That Cardinals offense can go vertical very quickly. But, perhaps, they can exploit the linebackers in coverage. If those players stay healthy, and with Brady coming off his suspension in Week 5, this could be one of the best offenses in history.
Advertisement
STAT OF THE WEEK: How much of a difference would Gronk have made for Garoppolo?
