-The Quarterback Shuffle continues at Foxboro: Sunday’s Patriots/Dolphins game was a beat writer’s nightmare. It was one of those games where the entire focus and narrative changed on dime. What started as a lopsided contest and coronation of sorts for New England’s one-time backup quarterback, quickly morphed into a game of survival with the Patriots fate resting on the broad shoulders of the first third-string quarterback ever to see meaningful minutes in the Belichick era.
For 16 minutes and 46 seconds Garoppolo and the Patriots toyed with the overwhelmed Miami Dolphins. New England scored on their first three possessions, marching 75+ yards on each drive, and raced to a 21-0 lead. Garoppolo was conducting the offense like a seasoned maestro completing 14 of his first 17 passes for 195 yards and three touchdowns. Coupled with a smothering defense, the Patriots were dominating in a manner that was almost comical. New England had 11 first downs and Miami had 4 yards passing. In the golden age of parity it was as big an NFL beatdown as you will see, and Jimmy G was at the center of it. Garappolo had half of Patriot Nation dreaming of the cache of draft picks that would be showered on New England in a possible offseason trade while the other half of Patriot Nation was openly pondering just how much Brady has left in the tank. And even if pushing Brady aside and handing the operation over to an inexperienced 24 year-old from Eastern Illinois proves to be too much of a leap of faith for the Patriots brain trust, a trade most likely wouldn’t happen until the offseason, all but guaranteeing that for months local sports radio air waves would be inundated with QB controversy talk. The Age of Garoppolo had arrived.
Then everything changed.
With just under five minutes remaining in the first half, the Dolphins Reshad Jones drove Garoppolo hard into the Gillette Stadium turf. The young quarterback immediately grabbed his throwing shoulder. You knew instantly this was not good. Minutes later an obviously injured Garoppolo was headed to the locker room. While the injury news would be good (sprained AC Joint) he was done for the day and in an instant all those beat writers began deleting their half-written stories as attention turned to a rookie quarterback that had never thrown an NFL pass and at this time last year was preparing to play against the Old Dominion Monarchs. Enter Jacoby Brissett. Garoppolo had two years to prepare for his first meaningful snaps. Brissett had two games. It would be trial by fire for the unproven rookie.
Remarkably, at first, it looked like New England wouldn’t miss a beat as Brissett was 3-3 for 59 yards on yet another touchdown drive. The Patriots offense looked so unstoppable it seemed not to matter who played quarterback. Maybe in the fourth quarter Belichick would start Melissa McCarthy under center. Unfortunately for New England large leads in the NFL are about as reliable as a degree from Trump University. Faster than you could say Rod Rust, the bumbling Ryan Tannehill transformed into Dan Marino and the Patriots defense turned into a sieve, allowing three consecutive touchdown drives to the once hapless Dolphins. And these were not garbage TDs against a prevent defense. The third Dolphins touchdown came with over six minutes left in the game against a defense that was blitzing and pressing every step of the way. They just couldn’t stop Miami.
Compounding the problem was the inevitable slowing down of New England’s offense, as the Patriots coaches appeared to be simultaneously trying to protect both their lead and their rookie quarterback. A heavy dose, however, of the NFL’s version of a Sherman Tank, LeGarrette Blount, and an interception by Duron Harmon in the final seconds sealed the victory. The Patriots had survived…..barely. Now all eyes shift toward a Thursday night matchup with Houston as all of New England familiarizes themselves with the recovery time for AC Joints and wonders if three days is enough time for a rookie to prepare to face menacing defensive end J.J. Watt and the Texans third ranked defense.
-The seriousness of Jimmy Garoppolo’s AC Joint sprain depends on the degree of the sprain but it is worth noting that Ben Roethlisberger played in last year’s playoff game against Denver with a sprained AC Joint in his throwing shoulder and his injury included torn ligaments. The injury to Garoppolo was reported by the NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. No word yet if comedian Janeane Garofalo has weighed in.
-Garoppolo has passed the ball 17 times on 3rd down this year and registered 13 first downs. On the play he was hurt he completed a 15 yard pass on 3rd and 9.
-Stock Watch: Despite six highly productive quarters that saw Garoppolo complete 70% of his passes and post a QB rating of 117.2 it will be argued that Garoppolo’s trade value takes a hit with his injury. I disagree. In the quarterback hungry NFL where teams are starved for the next great signal-caller he did plenty to entice teams into making offers. In a strange way the injury might even help his trade value. Even if he doesn’t play again, Garoppolo flashed just enough to wet the palate of NFL GMs while also leaving a certain mystery element lingering that maybe his potential is even higher than first thought.
Before you dismiss this theory think of these three names: Matt Schaub, Matt Flynn and Rob Johnson.
-Matt Schaub: Schaub had exactly two starts in three years with Atlanta and despite limited success in those starts was traded for two 2nd round picks and a swap of first round picks (Atlanta moved from 10 overall to 8 overall).
-Matt Flynn: Flynn made exactly two starts in his illustrious career with Packers, losing to New England in 2010 and posting video game numbers (480 yards, 6 TDs) in a meaningless week 17 game against Detroit in 2011. For this sparse work he was rewarded in the offseason with a 3 year, 26 million dollar contract from the Seattle Seahawks.
-Rob Johnson: The man who loved to wear effeminate headbands and throw interceptions is my favorite example of the allure of potential. This former 4th round pick started exactly one game in three years with Jacksonville yet somehow was traded to the Buffalo Bills for the 9th overall pick in the draft. It’s also worth noting he stole Doug Flutie’s playoff starting job with one good start at the end of the 1999 season. No bad quarterback has achieved more with single starts than Rob Johnson. Unfortunately that is all he achieved as he went on to lose that playoff game and post a 9-17 record as a part-time starter for the Bills.
All of these QBs were acquired for way too high a price for their body of work because NFL teams are often motivated by hope, but as Red from Shawshank Redemption reminds us, “Hope is a dangerous thing.” Too bad NFL teams never seem to learn that lesson, which is why the Patriots should cash in.
Garoppolo’s Current Trade Value: Top 10 pick
-Periscope: Imagine if there was a Brady-Cam monitoring his reactions during these games. I bet he wasn’t quite as happy as people might think when Jimmy G was tearing it up and wasn’t quite as upset as people might think when Garoppolo got hurt. I’m not judging Brady, it’s just human nature.
-If you could trade coaches what would the Patriots get right now for Josh McDaniels? New England’s offensive coordinator has stepped out of the shadow of Brady and done a phenomenal job of handling the Patriots young quarterbacks. His play-calling Sunday was nothing short of masterful and if he chooses to leave he should be on the top of everyone’s short list for a head coaching job. This would also put McDaniels in a prime position to possibly make a trade for Garoppolo.
-Defensive Woes: I hope the Patriots defensive coaches happened to catch the end of the Broncos/Colts game to see how a defense is supposed to finish games. The Colts and Dolphins have comparable offensive talent yet on a day when Miami shredded New England’s D in the 2nd half the Broncos smothered any chance at a Colts comeback by holding Indy to just seven points in the final 20 minutes and scoring two defensive touchdowns. That’s how you finish off an inferior opponent.
-The Patriots defense allowed 320 second half yards to Miami. Even scarier, they allowed 459 total yards for the game despite causing four turnovers.
-Touted as a Defensive Player of the Year candidate entering the season, Jaime Collinshas been a non-factor through two games. A couple of more games like that and maybe New England should pounce and try to sign him to a team-friendly contract.
-All three Patriots cornerbacks struggled Sunday, but none more so than Justin Coleman. Trying to keep up with Miami’s quick wideouts, Coleman looked like an old man chasing a cat. As Denver and Seattle have shown, it often takes three quality corners to have an elite defense because NFL offenses will find the weak spot and exploit it all day.
-The Patriots aren’t the only team that has struggled to protect a lead. The NFL has suddenly morphed into the NBA, where large early leads are all but meaningless. In the first two weeks of the season five teams lost games they led by 10 or more points including San Diego who blew a 21-point lead week 1 and Cleveland who blew and 18-point lead week 2. The New Orleans Saints lead the Raiders by 14 points week 1, before losing in the final minute when Jack Del Rio shocked the NFL by going for two. I couldn’t tell if people were shocked that they went for two, or shocked that somebody had actually hired Jack Del Rio.
-Garoppolo might have stolen the show on Sunday but the play of the game goes toLeGarrette Blount. The 250 pound running back went full-blown Edwin Moses and hurdled a Miami defender during a 26-yard 4th quarter run. Blount was a force most of the game rushing for 129 yards and a touchdown.
-Watching the Patriots/Dolphins game I couldn’t help but think of the legend of Dan Campbell. In case you forgot, last year after starting 1-3 the Dolphins fired head coach Joe Philbin and inexplicably promoted TE coach Dan Campbell to head coach. Campbell was an old school, rah-rah type who didn’t have much use for Xs and Os. Instead this bad-ass was going to turn things around with pure emotion. This guy was all about push-ups and protein shakes. The kind of guy you watch workout at Gold’s Gym and instantly conclude that you hate. This screaming in-your-face wild man was going to bring his team back from the brink with Oklahoma drills and full contact practices. This testosterone Texas tough guy couldn’t wait to get all up in your face. Who needs game plans when you have pregame speeches? And shockingly for two games it actually worked. In Campbell’s first two games as head coach, the Dolphins went 2-0 winning both games by a combined score of 82-36. In an instant, South Florida was exploding with Dan Campbell fever. Then this GNC-loving hardo took his act to Foxboro to face the undefeated Patriots……..and learned the hard way that emotion will only get you so far. New England crushed Miami 36-7. Belichick was playing chess and Campbell was barely playing tic-tac-toe. Miami lost six of its next eight games, effectively ending the Dan Campbell era, but for two glorious weeks in October it was awesome. So let’s all pour out a Vanilla Whey protein shake in memory of crazy Dan Campbell. You are missed.
-Stark Contrast: Comparing the stability of the Patriots to their AFC counterparts almost isn’t fair but let’s do it anyway. Since Brady took over for Bledsoe the Patriots have had three starting quarterbacks and one head coach. The Dolphins have had 15 starting quarterbacks and nine head coaches. During that stretch the Patriots have made the playoffs 14 times and the Dolphins have made the playoffs just twice. Maybe the Dolphins new GM and my old UMass teammate, Chris Grier, can finally bring some stability to the franchise.
-Not as Easy as it Looks: Seeing Ryan Tannehill get stood up and denied on a 3rd and 1 quarterback sneak, had to make Patriots fans appreciate Tom Brady just a little more.
-Speaking of Brady, if you have yet to experience the complete and total awesomeness that is the “Brady Mask” here it is in all its glory: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2663079-fake-tom-brady-invades-patriots-cardinals-tailgate-hangs-with-new-england-fans
Wes Welker even wore the mask to the Patriots home opener: https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/patriots/2016/09/18/guess-who-was-under-that-tom-brady-mask/mSpQJ7XkM4oZocAEGhZR8K/story.html
For the record the real Tom Brady has called it “probably the creepiest thing I have ever seen”.
-It would have been an all-time show-stopper if David Ortiz had come out for the pregame ceremony Sunday wearing the Brady mask. As it is he did pay homage to the future Hall-of-Fame QB by replacing his “Big Papi” #34 Patriots jersey with a #12 Brady special. Red Sox fans have just three regular season games and the postseason to see Ortiz at Fenway Park. For my money Ortiz is the best power hitter I have ever seen. And for those of you that want to argue Barry Bonds was the best, with all the PEDs he ingested I can’t help but think of Obi-Wan Kenobi talking about Darth Vader,“He’s more machine now than man.”
-A tip of the cap to Chris Long and the Waterboys charity he founded, whose mission is to bring drinkable water to communities in East Africa. Long conceived of the idea during one of his Tanzania trips to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. He has since recruited other NFL players to the cause. This sounds like a more effective form of NFL activism than taking a seat during the National Anthem.
Photo courtesy of AP