Jarrett Stidham should be pretty happy about his first performance review in the professional world.
The Patriots quarterback turned some heads Thursday night in the preseason opener with an impressive performance in New England’s 31-3 rout of the Detroit Lions. The 2019 fourth-round pick completed 14 of 24 passes for 179 yards and a touchdown, and more importantly, he checked each of the boxes head coach Bill Belichick has when it comes to evaluating quarterback play.
“I think there were several plays that dawned all of the categories really,” the Patriots coach said Friday on a conference call. “Quick throws where the read was clear and the receiver was open and then maybe a secondary read, and then there were a couple of times where he scrambled and extended the play. He ran a couple times and completed a pass to — I think it might have been the tight end, (Andrew) Beck or (Ryan) Izzo — but anyway, there was a little bit of everything there.
“The most important thing for the quarterback is not to turn the ball over, make good decisions, and throw accurately, so he did all of those at times.”
Considering the source, that’s pretty high praise.
Stidham’s next chance to make his mark in game action comes next weekend in Nashville after a few days of joint practices with the Titans.
