Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - LOCKED ON PATRIOTS - Sept. 12, 2016 - How Jimmy Garoppolo won his first career start

Episode Date: September 12, 2016

The Boston Herald's Jeff Howe examines Jimmy Garoppolo's first career start and how the young quarterback was responsible for the Patriots' victory against the Cardinals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I'm Jeff Howe with the Boston Herald, and this is your podcast for Monday, September 12th. The Patriots are 1-0 after Jimmy Garoppolo won them a game Sunday night in Arizona. What a game it was. What a way for the Patriots to kick off their season. A lot of high hopes for the last three quarters of the regular season and whatever playoff push they may have, but there was just as much uncertainty in the first quarter of the regular season

behind Garoppolo and wondering how much he could really do to fill in for Tom Brady. Could he win them a game? Was he going to be a game manager? Was he going to be a puddle? We had no idea. I mean, I could sit here, I've said this before, I could sit here over and again throughout the summer telling you how much I like Garoppolo's game, but that still didn't mean I knew or he knew or Belichick knew or McDaniels knew or anybody knew how Garoppolo was really going to go out there and play when the lights were on when the Cardinals were attacking him and there was some adversity and the kid played great he won them the game in Arizona the Patriots won despite losing the turnover battle two. The defense didn't force a single turnover, which was a surprise.

And then the offense fumbled it away twice. Once was on Garoppolo, or once was really on Marcus Cannon, but still bottom line, you've got to hold on to the football when you know the pass rush is there. So not completely perfect for Garoppolo. And then another one was on LeGarrette Blount. And those two fumbles led to two Arizona touchdowns, which was basically the only reason why the Cardinals had a chance to win that game. Of course, Larry Fitzgerald was

brilliant toward the end when Carson Palmer threw some big money throws to Fitzgerald. Two touchdowns, caught the 100th touchdown of his career. It was a pretty huge night for Fitzgerald. And pretty cool to see what he's capable of doing in person. Of course, as a Patriots writer, and anybody who follows the Patriots, you don't really get to see the Cardinals a whole heck of a lot. So it was good to see that. But anyway, this is all about Garoppolo and the way that he played. And again, won the Patriots a football game.

Of course, he had help. Of course, the defense played well at times. Of course some of the mistakes that led to Arizona even being in the game were not Garoppolo's fault. The Blunt fumble was unforgivable, although he sort of made up for it a drive earlier. Had the big touchdown run through Tyron Matthew and a host of other Cardinals teammates and Blunt had the the 13-yard run on the huge third and 11 run in the fourth quarter before Steven Gostowski's game-winning field goal so I said unforgivable. Maybe that wasn't the right word. Inexcusable is a better way to describe LeGarrette Blount's fumble. I'm a little tired. I'm not going to lie.

Late night in Arizona, the time difference has thrown me off a little bit. I'm still sitting here waiting for my flight back to Boston. So I'm a little out of sorts. I actually went down to the hotel bar Sunday morning to get a cheeseburger for lunch. And as I finished it, I looked around and I realized they were still cleaning up the breakfast area. It didn't even hit me that I walked downstairs and ordered a cheeseburger at 11 a.m. local time. So I think they were looking at me like I had a couple heads. So, yeah, the time difference has been a little bit different for me out here in Arizona.

But I'm fighting through it for you guys. Back to Garoppolo. Back to the reason why we're here Garoppolo was by and large really good 24 of 33 264 yards and a touchdown no interceptions did lose a fumble and it wasn't the overall body of work that was most impressive it was the success that he had in high stress situations he went i mean we'll get to the game winning drive in a second i mean that was probably the most impressive one but the way to set the tone early in the game was really impressive and he went five of six excuse me four of five for 75 yards in the opening drive.

The incompletion was the first play of the game when they had him roll out of the pocket, and he fired a BB probably 10 feet over Chris Hogan's head, and it was like, okay, he needed to get that one out of the way. That was a little bit of nervousness, some jitters, some anxiety, and I mean, he might as as well throw the thing into the third row probably his father probably had a better chance of catching that ball than Chris Hogan did but he got it out of the way and then he came back with four straight completions he hit Julian Edelman three times third and 11 hits Edelman for 11 yards first and 19 after a holding penalty by Ted Karras hits Edelman for 19 yards.

He hit Edelman for 8 yards in a first down conversion on 2nd and 8. So it was, the throws, it's not like he was sitting there dinking and dunking. I mean, the amount of people who were worried that Garoppolo was just going to be a game manager, was just going to basically try to not get in the way of some of his skill position players. And he was making big-time throws early in the game. And he didn't get a whole lot of help at times. There were the offensive line, which started two backup tackles, two rookie guards, and an undrafted center committed four hold excuse me committed four holding penalties uh they they stuck him in long yardage situations throughout the night and it same the same happened

in the uh the final drive or the game winning drive with uh gustowski's field goal at the end there to put him up 23 21 they were they were backed up because of holds because of an ugly run or I should say ugly run blocking that put him into a second and 16 you know when Garoppolo threw that 32 yarder to Danny Amendola it was third and 16 so they continuously went backwards on first down and Garoppolo continuously helped them get past it so it's important they trusted him in a situation where they trailed 21-20 the first time they were down all night and Garoppolo had to go out there and he had to make some plays and he did so it was they put a lot on his plate they had to put a lot on his plate at that point and his some of his guys made it a

little more difficult at that point and i'll get into some of that stuff in my film review uh later monday and then in tuesday's herald but just to see where some of these things went wrong but uh you know garoppolo again he was good and get back to the first drive real quick he threw a 37 yard touchdown to chris hogan now it was easy because hogan torched brandon williams the rookie cornerback and made him look pretty foolish there over there by the left sideline but it was a lot of it had to do with the pre-snap so that place i mean they were buzzing cardinals fans were jacked up it was a really loud atmosphere just a tremendous

test for Garoppolo to go in there and face that type of environment so the place is going bonkers they're at the 37 yard line Garoppolo steps to the line and starts to make a call made a check he noticed there was a man coverage so he changed the play and as he was kind of identifying the mic again as he was making the check at the line trying to look around and point and do some hand gestures the crowd got even louder and everybody got set Chris Hogan said as soon as Garoppolo made that check he told me he knew the ball was pretty much coming to him and he just needed to make sure he got off the line again put a nifty little move left Williams in the dust and ran easy for a 37-yard touchdown when Garoppolo made the the smooth throw so that was a nice way for him to start it wasn't just all right here's the play Jimmy go out and run it don't even think about changing it it was

hey if you see it you're running the offense you are the guy this you don't don't be shy out there so again it just shows that's a small thing but it's just an extra detail that shows you all right the Patriots trust him to go out there and do what he's supposed to do they're not making him run out there with the training wheels and the other thing I liked was they Josh McDaniels called a heck of a game for the most part but they put Garoppolo in they involved Garoppolo right away he threw the ball or he had a pass they called a pass on the first three series of the game uh the the fourth and fifth series I hated uh more more so the fourth because they took over four minutes

to go started with a run and just never got anything going they went three and out looked like they were trying to run their four minute offense uh with the lead there and a 10-7 lead there after the cardinals scored a touchdown and they couldn't you know they just couldn't get it going and then they tried to run the clock out again right before the half did so unsuccessfully I'm not saying that was the wrong call I just thought that it might have been too predictable it just didn't work the bottom line was it just didn't work I don't hate the idea I just hated the execution so those were the five drives of the first half three started with a throw and garoppolo scored on the first two touchdown and a field goal i should say the patriots scored on

the first two the third series started with a throw uh but it was thwarted later when garoppolo fumbled the ball cannon was beat around the edge for a strip sack that Chandler Jones ended up recovering. And the fourth and fifth started with a run, so they got more conservative. They changed it up. They got back, and they put the accelerator back on. First series of the second half, Garoppolo comes out and throws a pass, ultimately to himself because he got batted at the line. But again, they called an aggressive play.

They got Garoppolo out there throwing again and that was also the drive when he actually starts with the the three-yard pass to himself talk about composure there so to make sure you don't screw up that type of situation especially as the cardinals closed down the first half with momentum the crowd was back into it and then on third and six garoppolo has a 10-yard scramble shows off those wheels and you don't know how much he's really got in the tank when he's or how how fast he really is in these preseason games the energy is not as high but that's a fast Cardinals defense and Garoppolo looked like he had some speed there used it well used it efficiently didn't look to

run too much so that was just a good mix of using his legs when he needed to use them. So the 10-yard scramble on third and six kind of settled everything down. That was their first first down or third down, excuse me, their first first down since about a quarter before then, almost a full quarter of action without a first down because things got throttled down there late in the second quarter or midway through the second quarter especially as the Cardinals started to get some momentum and they held the ball a little bit longer and then Malcolm Mitchell contributes for the first time with a 28-yard catch nice little catch spun out of there 28-yard gain

basically set up LeGarrette Blount's eight- yard touchdown when he bulldozed through tyron matthew and a bunch of his friends so the pats take a 17-7 lead there but then lagarrette blunt fumbles the ball away after the defense held up got him the ball back with a 17-7 lead blunt fumbles and carson palmer and larry fitzgerald hook up again so Garoppolo comes back and they actually started that drive the next drive with a run so a little more conservative that was out of character in terms of uh you know that was the only drive that they started a run started with a run that wasn't in the four-minute offense before the half so again again, it was send Garoppolo out there, try to get him involved, get him to throw the ball early, take the thinking out of it, I guess you want to say.

Just let him get out there and sling it. But that drive, they marched down the field to get a field goal. Steven Gasowski had a big night too. Tough summer, but responded right away with a huge regular season opener. And then the final drive of the game. Just, you know, really good stuff. Pats take over down 21-20. Again, first deficit of the season, and they wind up in third and 16. Garoppolo starts running for his life as the pocket collapses. And then Danny Amendola breaks free. And Garoppolo hits him for 32 yards.

Splits the defense. And, I mean, just how do you not look at that and say, this kid's got it. You know, that was a money throw it was a money play to keep everything alive and it it really again it settled everything down and out they were in the the tough situation third and 15 excuse me they were in third and 15 because garoppolo was sacked by chandler jones actually you know, pulverized by Chandler Jones on first down. Then they had an incompletion to James White. So third and 15, and Garoppolo has to start spinning around for his life.

And comes back later in the drive. Third and three. You know, first down, second down. Third down all over again. Third and three. And Garoppolo throws a BB to James White on a slant from the right side. Just a good throw. Confident delivery.

And that got the Patriots closer, basically, into field goal range. So that was an important throw because they were facing third and three from the Arizona 41-yard line. They throw an incompletion there does belichick play the field position game with uh about six and change to go you know does he punt the ball try to pin the cardinals back does he go for it on fourth down so it kind of bailed him out of having to make that decision there with a good throw and then again first down second down third down all over again and because of a one yard loss on first down the the pats faced a second and 11 an incompletion a third and 11 and they basically punted they were just like all right you know what this is a loss gonna send gustowski out there with

the field goal unit and lagar blunt makes patrick peterson miss gets the patriots down in the field goal range and they weren't able to get another first down because Stowski had a much easier field goal because of it. So it was, he finally got some help there, Garoppolo did. And you've got to like, again, you go through the drive chart and Garoppolo's efficiency. mean he had what ninth series not including the kneel down at the end of the game you take away two of those because they were basically the four minute offense when the Pats were trying to run out the clock so you look at seven series when Garoppolo had a legitimate chance to move the ball down the field and he turns those seven series into a touchdown, excuse me, two touchdowns and three field goals. So five scoring drives in seven series. The other two were thwarted by LeGarrette Blount's fumble.

So an early fumble too. See, I mean, you don't fault Garoppolo there. What did he have a chance to do? So you're talking six full series when garoppolo had a fair shake of it and he turned five of them into scores garoppolo won the patriots the game so this is a let's take a longer term view of this and with the dolphins coming in the dolphins hung tight with seattle uh see i guess you gotta like what the dolphins had there i think russell wilson went down for a little bit i'm still trying to catch up on all the Sunday action in the NFL. But the Dolphins are coming in. The Texans are coming in.

And then the Bills are coming in. Those aren't, you know, the Dolphins might be a team that you run through pretty easily. But, you know, the Texans, they know you. Bill O'Brien's going to figure out something to do if if brock osweiler can play and or if he can play well competently i say uh still want to get a better read on what osweiler can do we were looking a little too far down the line there but with osweiler in mind signing that four-year 72 million dollar deal last offseason after seven starts garoppolo looking the way he did, and this was a validation of what Garoppolo has done at practice

and in the preseason for the last three seasons. I'm telling you guys, the kid's got a good arm. When he keeps his head down the field with a closing pocket, he's able to make the plays that he's been made that he made last night and there's no reason to think that this was a fluke or that that's a good cardinals defense tough environment and a good team overall that they just beat so three teams that on paper are inferior to the cardinals are now traveling to gillette stadium and you're going to start thinking four and oh or three and one instead of all right are you

thinking three and one or two and two are you thinking even worse than that but garoppolo's performance puts the patriots in huge position position for when Tom Brady comes back. And then what do you do from here? I mean, brace yourselves. If you're not big on the conspiracy theories, if you're not big on the hottest of all the hot takes, if you find yourself slamming your head into a steering wheel when you turn on sports radio. You might want to wear a helmet when you're driving around this week because you're going to catch yourself turning on a show and hearing a caller say, maybe you should trade Brady.

Hey, did you see that Garoppolo kid on Sunday night? Beat the Cardinals, played really well. Under contract in 2017, a little cheaper. He's a lot younger. Think you want to just trade Brady? What do you guys think? I'll hang up and listen. You know, that's going to happen.

You're going to hear those calls. And it's not going to end this week. So this is, it's, look, there's no controversy here. I don't know what the Patriots are going to do. I'm of the frame of mind that you keep Tom Brady for as long as Tom Brady is playing good football. it's uh look there's no controversy here i don't know what the patriots are going to do i don't i'm i'm of the frame of mind that you keep tom brady for as long as tom brady is playing good football and right now there's no reason for me to believe tom brady's going to stop playing good football the play here in my opinion has not changed you still try to trade jimmy garoppolo after this

season because if the eagles were able to just get a first round pick for sam bleeping bradford i mean the patriots should get you know by theory of transitive relation here the patriots should get about 20 first round picks for garoppolo to be more realistic they're definitely getting a one for him we'll see how much more he can get him on top of that over the next three weeks but hey there's gonna be a long-term view there's gonna be some times when you're gonna hear these hot takes somebody's probably gonna write about it or say something stupid and and it's gonna spark some discussion i mean who knows what's gonna happen in some of these press conferences this week but it's definitely going to be entertaining the bottom line is jimmy garoppolo odds stacked against him pats were their the biggest underdogs

for the were underdogs i'm tired i'm working through it guys they were uh nine and a half point dogs their their largest spread against them since super bowl 36 when tom brady went out there and started his Hall of Fame career basically you know Brady 49 fourth quarter comeback or game-winning drives Garoppolo had his first game-winning drive in his first chance Sunday night kid passed all the tests didn't get the help from the defense in terms of setting that him up with easy scores that we thought they would need to do in order to win this game especially without Nate Solder and Rob Gronkowski. So again, good start.

I'm going to get through this tape a little bit more on Monday, break down a little more of the game on Tuesday for you. I am Jeff Howe from the Boston Herald. This is Locked on Patriots. I'll catch you guys later. Whatcha doing? Ran out of space on my phone, so I'm deleting some stuff. By singing dog.

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