Garoppolo-led offense slips up
FOXBORO — Yesterday, the Patriots practiced in steady rain without their starting quarterback, and it looked that way.
With Tom Brady absent as he prepared for today’s legal proceedings in his suspension appeal, Jimmy Garoppolo took the reins with the first-team offense and a sloppy afternoon ensued. The two-hour practice saw missed targets, interceptions and plenty of dropped passes.
“There were some tough parts, but we’ve got to deal with the conditions better than that, overall as a team,” Garoppolo said. “It’s good to practice in them and get used to them.”
Garoppolo threw a pair of picks to safeties Tavon Wilson and Devin McCourty during 11-on-11 drills — both on tipped balls — and the offense sputtered for most of the session.
“You’re never happy about (the miscues),” Garoppolo said. “But as a quarterback you have to keep it even-keeled. You never want to get too high, never too low, and just ride it like that.”
Despite the offense’s poor performance, the second-year quarterback said that he felt more confident in the backfield than he did a year ago.
“Last year things were much different, circumstances, just knowing the playbook,” he said. “I was very new back then.”
With a year of studying the playbook under his belt, things are getting easier for the 23-year-old Garoppolo.
“You just become more comfortable with the offense,” he said. “The terminology, calling the plays, reading the defenses, all that stuff. It all adds up.”
Garoppolo believes he commands the respect of the offense as the signal-caller.
“You’re the quarterback, in the huddle you’re calling the plays,” he said. “Guys are looking at you, you’ve got to go out there and take charge.”
It’s likely Garoppolo will see the majority of the reps in tomorrow night’s opening preseason contest at Gillette Stadium against the Green Bay Packers, especially since thirdstringer Ryan Lindley has been on the roster for only three days. Garoppolo is looking forward to running the offense in a game situation.
“It’s awesome to get back out there,” Garoppolo said. “Practice is fun and everything, but the game is what we play for. It’s exciting, Thursday is going to be fun.”
Although the game won’t count in the standings, Garoppolo thinks that his team will be going full-tilt because it’s simply how they are wired.
“We’re playing to win the game, that’s just the competitor in all of us naturally,” he said. “You want to go out there in win, and so that’s what we’re going to try to do.”