Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - LOCKED ON PATRIOTS - Aug. 9, 2016 - What to make of Jimmy Garoppolo's dip in performance as the Saints come to Foxboro

Episode Date: August 8, 2016

Jeff Howe discusses Jimmy Garoppolo's struggles in the last three practices, why they're happening and what makes this week so important for his development. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, where are you going, Jim? The elevator's over here. Taking the stairs. But our meeting's up on 8. Yeah, I know. But that's 8 floors up. That's like 8 times... I don't... a lot of stairs. That's the point. I've already lost a few pounds and earned almost $100 in wellness incentives. Whoa, you're getting rewarded for working out? Yeah, I know. I'm just as surprised as you are, Bob.

Fearless is full of surprises. That's the power of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Federal Employee Program. Learn more about our healthy benefits and sign up at fepblue.org slash choose blue by December 11th. What's up? This is Locked on Patriots Tuesday, August 9th. My name is Jeff Howe, your host of the new Patriots Daily Podcast. Again, Locked on Patriots. We're in week two, and this is the first day of the Patriots and Saints joint practices at Gillette Stadium. It's an extremely important stretch now for Jimmy Garoppolo so I really want to get into the quarterback situation that has been really the biggest storyline since camp opened. The Patriots are now 10 practices deep into training camp. Jimmy Garoppolo got off to a soaring start made people really believe that he was out for immediate success and I was among those but he has hit a little bump in the road

over the last three practices is this the start of some struggles is it just again a little dip a little slump that he can get himself out of. Whatever the case is, I think we're going to learn a little more about Jimmy Garoppolo in the next three days and his chance to practice against the Saints twice and then play against them in the preseason opener Thursday night. This is a situation where I'm taken back to Garoppolo's rookie summer in 2014 when he got off to, I've said it a million times, just a terrible start. But in that first preseason game, the lights came on against the Washington Redskins. Garoppolo was a gamer, played really well, and that was really where things started to click

for him. So the competition level's changing a little bit. He's no longer having to throw against a Patriots defense that we all believe, I think, or I believe and I believe a lot of people believe. That's a lot of believes in one quick sentence right there. But let's stick with it. This is a Patriots defense a lot of people believe is going to be a top five unit. At worst, a top ten unit based off of what they accomplished last season, especially when they were healthy.

Pretty much all of these guys are back and it is Garoppolo having some issues because he's going against a very good defense every day a defense that is kind of caught on to what he's able to do or what he likes to do a defense that is taking advantage of the fact that some of the Patriots skill positions aren't fully healthy yet and they're kind of overwhelming Garoppolo there are some issues some tendencies that Garoppolo's had so let's kind of get through them start off with some numbers Garoppolo to this point in training camp is 147 of 205 in team drills now those are seven on sevens and 11 on 11. That's 71.7% of his passes have gone for completions. That's a pretty good number. He was at about 65% during last year's training camp.

You usually want to be above 70%. Tom Brady right now by comparisons at 74.1%. These numbers don't translate to the regular season, obviously. The contact is different and so on and so forth. But you just want to look at these numbers just from a measurable standpoint. Garoppolo also has five interceptions. Two of those, remember, went through the hands of his receivers. Can't fault him for those. But he did throw probably his worst pass of camp on Monday, which was a very light practice.

They were back in shells for the first time in a week, threw it right into traffic and Kamu Bruiser Hill came away with another one. So again, this is a point where Garoppolo's had three straight pedestrian practices. He's completed 48 of 78 passes over the last three workouts. Now, two of those workouts were the Patriots' inter-squad scrimmages. So, some good live competition where he had some issues the first day. That Friday practice, he wasn't given some help. Aaron Dobson allowed EJ Biggers to break up a pass during a late drive. He had a drop on a third down in an earlier drive. Rob Gronkowski was allowed to throw that ball in the trick play that was intercepted by Devin McCourty that sabotaged another drive.

So Gronk also dropped a touchdown pass in the first drive of the game when Garoppolo started 4-4 and should have been 5-5 if Gronk caught that ball. So this isn't like panic and sound the alarms and bring in another type of quarterback to save the day. It's not that bad. But because Garoppolo is starting those first four games, every little issue gets magnified. This is going to be the first time that the quarterback play has been under such an intense microscope for not just one week but four weeks uh since really a decade and a half ago so and aside from the Matt Castle situation but again I think this is a it's different because Brady is coming back and you just Matt Castle it was like everything he did well it was it was just

it was great you know you knew you had a good. You just wanted to see what they were capable of. Garoppolo is here to keep this team afloat so Brady can come in for the final 12 games and potentially bring them to a fifth Super Bowl. So slightly different situations. Anyway, I think going back to Sunday's scrimmage, which was a little sloppier, Friday's scrimmage was outstanding. The quality of the play was phenomenal. Really, just almost everybody had a really good day. Just a fun, fun practice to be at. Sunday's was a little different. Garoppolo got off to a 1-6 start during Sunday's practice,

but closed 14-18. Now, one of those drives, the touchdown drive, he was 5-6, threw a great pass to Martellus Bennett. It could have been six six but again there was another drop in there so this is again it's a situation where garoppolo's numbers have dipped but you can point to other situations where guys aren't really helping him there have been some other flaws that i've seen in garoppolo's game. One of them has been, he's kind of hurrying a little bit when the pass rush is getting to him. Now, is that on Garoppolo or is that on the

offensive line? I think there has to be a happy medium here. The offensive line is still not at full strength because Sebastian Vollmer is out and the guard situation, they're still rotating at right guard. So eventually Dante Skarnecchia is going to get the five in that he wants, assuming everybody's healthy, or at least the five that he sees fit. And they still have a few more weeks to go with that. And if Skarnecchia notices that the line is as much of an issue as it was last year, then I think you're going to meet with Josh McDaniels and Garoppolo, and you're going to say, all right, what are you going to do to rectify this how how are the passes going to change Julian Edelman came back on Sunday participated in his first team drills on Monday he is going

to help that cause considerably because he gets open as fast as any receiver in the NFL Edelman caught a couple passes from Garoppolo on Monday caught a couple more from Tom Brady an absolute gem of a ball for a three-yard touchdown in a fourth-and-goal situation. But this isn't about Brady right now. This is about Garoppolo. Edelman is clearly going to help. When Amendola comes back, he's going to help.

When Deion Lewis comes back, he's going to help. And Garoppolo has had a really good rhythm with Martellus Bennett, who has 19 catches off Garoppolo passes through 10 practices good rhythm with Martellus Bennett, who has 19 catches off Garoppolo passes through 10 practices in training camp in those team drills. That's the most of anybody on the roster. So that's a really good sign that Jimmy Garoppolo is hooking up consistently with Martellus Bennett, who could be just a tremendous weapon for this offense. A guy who has looked the part playing really well alongside Rob

Gronkowski who has 15 catches on Garoppolo passes to this point in training camp Aaron Dobson has 18 catches on Garoppolo passes so if Aaron Dobson we've talked about this before but if Aaron Dobson continues this pace he's going to make the team because he's been valuable for Garoppolo he'll be the sixth wide receiver on the roster, assuming they carry the five that I believe are locked in. And then they'll reassess if Dobson continues to earn that spot in week five. Maybe the injuries, whatever. We're not going to get into a Dobson tangent right now.

But he's pushing the ball down the field well. I mentioned it on an earlier podcast on Monday's show that he has fallen into a bit of a trap and throwing the ball to James White a little bit too much in the last handful of practices he he had some issues throwing into Donald Brown a little bit too much in the earlier practices when Brown was healthy and some of that is fine I have no problem with Garoppolo dumping the ball off to a running back. Tom Brady has done an extraordinary job of that over the course of his career. The problem is when the pass rush is getting into Garoppolo's face a little too quick,

are you looking straight at James White? Are you looking right at Donald Brown? Or when Deion Lewis comes back, are you looking right at him? And how quick is Lewis going to be? I mean, if Lewis isn't at comes back are you looking right at him and how quick is Lewis going to be I mean if Lewis isn't at full strength and you need to rotate him out for let's say half the snaps or whatever it happens to be James White's a lot easier to cover James White is is having a pretty good training camp and Donald Brown before he got hurt was having a good training camp but those, you can cover those guys, especially when you've got a day on

Buchanan or any number of those athletic guys in the back seven of the Cardinals defense. There are going to be ways to try to erase those guys if you're an opposing defensive coordinator. I mean, if your biggest concern is, okay, if you're a defensive coordinator and you can attack a certain area of the Patriots offensive line let's say worst case scenario Sebastian Vollmer is not ready for the start of the season and Marcus Cannon's your right tackle you know where you're attacking so if you're able to do that you're able to get pressure into Garoppolo's face right away then you need to make sure that you have either a linebacker or a safety bottling up whichever running back is on the field because you know where Garoppolo's eyes are going to turn immediately so you just want to make sure

that Garoppolo doesn't develop any bad habits now the catches that James White is making when he's split out wide or Brandon Bolden has made some catches from Garoppolo in the last couple days when those things are happening that's fine that's how the play is designed you're able to look at the slants or sometimes it's a go route from those guys totally fine with that it's just you you want to make sure that you don't fall in love with the check down if you're Garoppolo especially because this kid's got a good live arm his arm strength is has always been at solid uh this year he seems to have a little more zip on the ball at least from what i've noticed especially in terms of getting it through the second level of the defense i've brought up a handful of passes to aaron dobson

over the course of the last week in the podcast now one was through a tight window, through three defenders' hands in the in-stadium practice. Last Monday, he's hit Dobson. There was another touchdown pass to Aaron Dobson when Garoppolo waited for him to break through a couple layers of coverage, about a five-yard touchdown pass. And then Garoppolo didn't rush the ball because he waited just for Dobson to clear the linebacker who was in the sight line so he's got good patience he knows where he wants to go with the ball it's just when the pressure is hitting him quickly that's when he's sort of starting to rush it a little bit and that's when you see a bad throw like the one he had on Monday that Gruger Hill came away with on the interception. So these are situations that, again, the coaches are going to be able to figure out,

hey, what works best? Remember the Super Bowl XXXVI DVD that came out after the Patriots beat the Rams, and you saw Drew Bledsoe going over the plays with Tom Brady. Which plays do you like? Which ones do you want to run? Which ones are you comfortable with? You know they're going to go over that with Jimmy Garoppolo, whether it's Tom Brady before the suspension or Josh McDaniels or whoever. I mean, Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski are going to go up to him and say, hey, these plays suit you well. Don't be afraid to call him. These guys are all here for him to try to put him in a position of

strength. And so that brings us to the Saints this week. I'm very curious to see how the Patriots manage the quarterback reps because remember when Bill Belichick kicked off training camp by saying the priority was to get Jimmy Garoppolo ready for weeks one through four because he was the starting quarterback. And then they came out with that first practice. Tom Brady led off the first two periods of team drills before Garoppolo led off the final three periods of team drills. It was like, okay, here it is. Tom Brady set the tone for training camp by being the guy with the ones, and then Jimmy Garoppolo took over. And this was kind of how it was going to be Tom Brady sets the tone and then Jimmy Garoppolo gets the quality reps since that day the Patriots have

had nine practices now I'm going to temporarily remove the two scrimmages so let's say seven practices the Patriots have had 28 periods of team drills over the last seven practices again not including the scrimmages, since the first day of camp. Hopefully I'm not confusing you here, but over those seven practices, 28 periods of team drills. Tom Brady has led off 20 of them. So Garoppolo has only worked with the ones to start a period on eight occasions. And Brady has taken the first team reps or leading off those periods on 14 of the last 17 periods of team drills.

So the focus has greatly shifted back in Brady's favor. As Garoppolo has struggled over the last few days, now again, two of those days were scrimmages. And though the squads were kind of split up fairly evenly Friday. Garoppolo still had better weapons. He was still going against a lot more of the first-team defense than Brady was. And then on Sunday, Garoppolo had pretty much every important weapon with the exception of Julian Edelman, who wasn't participating in team drills at that point, and obviously no Danny Amendola or Deion Lewis at that point.

He was throwing to Chris Hogan. He was throwing to Bennett and Gronkowski he had Dobson out there with him he had Malcolm Mitchell with him so we're gonna see how the Patriots want to to go into this these two joint practices with the Saints I would expect Tuesdays to be in full pads I would expect Wednesdays to be in shells a lighter workout because the day before game. Now, if I had to guess, and this is not on any information that I have, I would think Tom Brady's going to go out and start that Saints game, probably play just one series, and then make way for Garoppolo.

Now, that could change if Brady goes out and has a really good couple days of joint practices. Maybe Belichick says, all right, Garoppolo needs to get a feel for going through this as as the starter and he goes out and plays the first half and Brissette comes in on the second half and finishes it out with the second third stringers guys who are trying to make the team but I'm curious how they handle the the controlled reps in these joint practices because Bill Belichick has done a good job of making sure, now these are past practices, making sure that Brady takes the ones against the other team's ones. They go hard, they practice really intense, and then you can limit the workload in the game because you're not totally sure about the injury situation. Clearly the joint practices, the live contact is greatly, greatly reduced. The chance of an injury is

reduced with that. So that's why you kind of want to get your ones, those quality reps in the joint practices, because then you can kind of let the backup sort through the majority of those first two preseason games. Now, obviously the bears are coming in next week for some more joint practices. So we'll kind of see where Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels are pointing toward in the coming days because with the trend that I was mentioning with Brady taking the brunt of those first team reps is that really going to carry into these first two days of joint practices when Bill Belichick could say hey Sean Payton you know put your ones against Garoppolo Garoppolo.

Garoppolo's going to go out there with the starting offense. He's been struggling the last couple days. Want him to get some more quality reps. Or is Bill Belichick and Alep Brady continue to take a lot of these first-team reps? And see, it's just all about Garoppolo's development. And you want to see him kind of snap out of this thing. He's going to have a slump because he's he's a guy with no starting experience so of course he's going to go through these dips over the course of the summer that's that's going to happen Tom Brady has random summers when he slumps for a week at a time it happens to everybody so you just want to see how

the Patriots are going to go about coaching him out of this. If they need to coach him harder, if they're just going to let him sort it out on his own. So again, how they manage the quarterback reps in the coming days is going to be a major storyline, especially in my opinion, especially in that full padded practice, because that's when it's going to be the intense workload before they dial it down just a little bit in the Wednesday practice. I wouldn't be surprised if those are mostly 7-on-7s in those team drills. And even if they're 11-on-11s, if they're not wearing full pads, what is it really worth? Because they're not out there really hitting each other at the line. So then you kind of circle back to the Saints defense.

Marginal at best. I mean, what is that defense really capable of? They're probably not going to be in the same league as this Patriots defense. So this is a defense that both quarterbacks should go out and have some success against. So maybe we see Garoppolo kind of snap out of it, have a couple good days, maybe goes out and has a good game on Thursday night for a handful of series. And you say, all right, you know what? Garoppolo is struggling against a good Patriots defense and as we're probably going to see a

bunch of quarterbacks do over the course of this regular season if he goes out and handles the Saints first team if he gets a number of chances to play with the first team if they split those reps evenly which I think would be extremely beneficial for the Patriots to do then you just look at it and you say hey little slump slump, got it out of the way. He was able to work through it, and they're back in business. This is how they – it'd be a good step in his development to kind of learn and to pick himself up when things aren't going as well as they were earlier in camp. I mean, remember the first five, six, seven practices,

Garoppolo was completing like 79% of his passes. The kid was just, he was out there flying high, no adversity, and now he's finally seeing some. And when the Saints come in, again, I can't stress it enough. I think it's going to be really important to see what the Patriots are going to do with their two guys. If were up to me i would have garoppolo out there with the ones for a minimum of 50 of the team drills over the course of the next two days and look tom brady's been fantastic that's the other side of this thing he went 25 at 25 on friday you have heard that at

this point unless you're living on the far side of the moon. And then he led the game-winning drive on Sunday when Bill Belichick took all of his weapons away. Brady had a, you know, he was all right, I guess, during Monday's practice. But not a situation where you really need to worry about Tom Brady. He's fine. You know he's going to be fine. You're going to get him some quality reps over the next few weeks before he has to go away for a month. This is about getting Garoppolo ready.

Bill Belichick said it was their priority to get him ready for week one. And I think because of the way Garoppolo has stumbled just a little bit, and hey, you know what, if he gets some help, gets a little puck luck out there, maybe we're not talking about this as much. But this is a chance for him to see some adversity, pick himself out of it. So that's the number one thing I'm going to be watching this week when the Patriots welcome the Saints twice at Gillette Stadium

before the preseason opener. I'll get back to you on Wednesday morning after the first fully padded practice, see how this thing is shaking out. We'll get through some of the big storylines. I definitely want to talk about the Patriots defense this week and how highly regarded I think they are and some of the pieces that should really be exciting. Check out the Herald on Wednesday. I wrote a story about Malcolm Brown and why I think he's going to be the Patriots breakout player of the year in 2016. Terrence Knighton said he's going to be one of the best said Malcolm Brown is going to

be one of the best defensive tackles in the NFL this year high high praise from a guy like Knighton who has had a really good career in his own right so again I'm definitely going to get to the Patriots defense but we'll be watching the quarterbacks when these reps are live against the Saints this week so make sure you come back and listen, see how these guys are really shaken out and if Garoppolo can pull himself out of this Monday through Friday, five days a week, like I said, until we burn down the internet. And if you want to advertise on Locked On Patriots, hit me up at jeff.howe at bostonherald.com. Have a good Tuesday. We'll see you guys back here on Wednesday. Is democracy in danger or decline? Condoleezza Rice, William Galston, and Carlos Gutierrez and others take on this question in the fall edition of The Catalyst, a journal of ideas from the Bush

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