FOXBORO, Mass. — Jimmy Garoppolo shook off some early jitters Thursday night to put forth a respectable effort in the New England Patriots’ preseason opener.
With starting quarterback Tom Brady missing the game to attend a memorial service for a family member, Garoppolo played the entire first half for the Patriots, completing 11 of 18 passes for 168 yards in a 34-22 win over the New Orleans Saints at Gillette Stadium. He did not throw a touchdown or an interception and was sacked twice.
“It wasn’t our best start, no question,” Garoppolo said. “We started a little slow, which we never want to do. But that’s going to happen sometimes. You’re not going to always start the right way or whatever, and it’s just how you react to that. It was a good experience (Thursday night) being put in a difficult situation and just seeing how the guys responded — how everyone responded — and I think we reacted in the right way.”
Garoppolo, who is set to start the first four games of the regular season while Brady serves his Deflategate suspension, struggled in the first quarter, misfiring on three of his first six pass attempts and going three-and-out on each of New England’s first two drives.
The 24-year-old rebounded nicely in the second quarter, however, completing six consecutive passes and scrambling four yards for a first down on 4th and 2. Garoppolo said he caught some flak for not sliding on his lone rushing attempt of the night, but he stood by his decision.
“The scramble play didn’t make the sideline very happy,” he said. “But it was fourth down, so I don’t know. The football player inside of me kicked in, I guess. In the future, I’ll probably, hopefully slide in that situation, but I wanted to get the first down.”
Garoppolo’s best play of the night came midway through the second quarter, with the Patriots facing a 1st and 10 from their own 43. After receiving a shotgun snap, the young QB held his ground in the pocket against a New Orleans pass rush and dumped a screen pass off to running back James White, who rumbled 56 yards before being hauled down at the 1-yard line.
LeGarrette Blount bulldozed into the end zone one play later to give New England its first offensive touchdown of the night.
“(White)Â made a tremendous play,” Garoppolo said. “Actually, a lot of guys made tremendous plays on that. The linemen got downfield and made some nice cutbacks, and it was a well-designed play. I thought he was in, personally, but tough call.”
All told, Garoppolo completed passes to five different receivers, including three to tight end Martellus Bennett and four to rookie wideout Malcolm Mitchell, who left the game after suffering a nasty elbow injury late in the second quarter. He had a limited stable of weapons to work with, too, as Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola, Chris Hogan and Keshawn Martin all were held out of the contest.
“You never know who you’re going to get in the preseason,” Garoppolo said. “That’s just how it is around here. But we do a great job in practice of mixing and matching with all the guys, so we get a little experience with everybody. And I think everybody came out to play today, and it was a pretty good result.”
Rookie Jacoby Brissett took over for Garoppolo after halftime and went 7-for-13 for 63 yards over the final two quarters.
Thumbnail photo via Brian Fluharty/USA TODAY Sports Images
