Plenty of people expected the worst for the New England Patriots, who were without quarterback Tom Brady and tight end Rob Gronkowski against the Arizona Cardinals, on Sunday, but backup signal-caller Jimmy Garoppolo proved himself worthy in a win.
The 24-year-old signal-caller threw for 264 yards on 24-of-33 passing with one touchdown and no interceptions en route to a 23-21 New England victory. However, Garoppolo deferred some of the credit to Julian Edelman on WEEI’s “Kirk & Callahan” on Monday.
“He just makes it so much easier on the quarterback, finding the soft spot in the zones and everything,” Garoppolo said. “It really makes my job a whole lot easier.”
Edelman was the Patriots’ most productive receiver Sunday, catching seven passes on seven targets for 66 yards, but New England actually spread the ball around quite a bit.
“The coaches put together a nice game plan to distribute the ball to all the guys,” Garoppolo said. “All the guys were making plays throughout the game. It really wasn’t just a one-man show. We knew that going into the game it was going to be like that, and things worked out pretty well.”
Garoppolo showed he’s a capable NFL quarterback, at least for that one game. But he’s not spending any time thinking about what will happen when Brady returns from his four-game Deflategate suspension.
“I’m just going out there trying to do my job,” Garoppolo said. “At the end of the day, whoever you line up there with, it’s football. Injuries are going to happen. Whatever it may be is going to happen. Eleven guys out there in the huddle, you have to have trust in one another. I think that’s something that we have going on right now offensively and really as a whole team, just having trust in one another, being able to look each other in the eye and trusting that the other person is going to have your back.”
Thumbnail photo via Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Imagess
