How Will The Patriots Fare Without Their Beloved Quarterback?

The suspension of Tom Brady means a lot for the New England Patriots. It means they will have to play the first four games without their star who has led them to several Super Bowl victories. The question that keeps coming to mind again and again is how will the Patriots fare without Brady? Brady is set to miss the first four games. This number may be reduced to two if the appeal works out in his favor. There is a lot of speculation in the NFL that the suspension could m be lifted altogether. However, chances are still high that the league may still stick with the punishment.

Tom Brady’s relationship with the Patriots

Though Brady has a strong history with Patriots, the Patriots on the other hand seem to rely solely on Brady. This has been the case since 2001. After taking over in game 3 of the 2001 season, life without Brady has never been imagined. The only exception was once in the 2008 season when Brady sat out with an injury. That year matt Cassel took over. This was the only look that we are aware of without Brady. The results with Cassel were not as horrible as any pessimistic person would have expected. He held the team to an 11-5 record. However, Patriots failed to make to the playoffs even though they won the last four games.
Brady as ever before remains important to the Patriots. He was the same player who won the Most valuable player award when the Patriots went 16-0 in the regular season in 2007. Without doubt, Brady is termed as the best quarterback that NFL has ever produced.

The Patriots’ backup

Things have changed now. The Patriots’ backup is Jimmy Garoppolo. Drafted in the second round from Eastern Illinois in 2014, he has appeared briefly in six games. It will be difficult to make a reliable judgment from these brief appearances. All what we know is that he went for 19 of 27 passes for 182 yards. He also had one touchdown.

Despite these stats, quarterbacks who have been drafted in the second round do not generally have a great career. It is always difficult to judge them until and unless they get into a game and prove their worth.

Though it will do a lot to help Garoppolo as the Patriots will throw their weight behind him, yet replacing a great player like Brady will bring a lot of uncertainty to the Patriots.

Is Jimmy Garoppolo gaining the confidence of his team?

Though still expecting some good news out of Brady’s appeal scheduled to be heard on 23^rd June, there seems to be an unforeseen admittance that Garoppolo will indeed start the season for the Patriots.

The Patriots seem to be preparing for this likelihood. This was evident when during practice at the Gillette stadium, Garoppolo was ushered in. In a field day or the quarterback, he threw with precision and continued with positive performances on the practice field.

“He’s doing a great job,” tight end Rob Gronkowski said. “He’s going out here, and he’s competing every single day, running the offense totally well and it’s great to go with any group that is out there, whatever time the coaches put me in, whoever the quarterback is, everything is going smooth. Everything is going well. It’s a lot of fun out here.”

With an amazing performance during practice, Garoppolo seems to be winning over his team mates.

“I’m just going out to practice every day, trying to improve, trying to get my teammates better, get me better, and we’ll go from there,” he said. “There’s a ton to improve on. I’ve got a long way to go.”
Garoppolo has had success with his team mates before. He won over his team mates last summer with his mid-August surge with a great performance. He was also impressive to many when he succeeded with his ability to maintain the first-team offense afloat during practices. This was the time when Tom Brady had been limited due to calf injury.

The future without Brady

If Brady’s appeal fails to end the four-game suspension, then the Patriots will perhaps be facing the worst time.

The Patriots will face a difficult time for many reasons. Their opening game will be against the Steelers. The Steelers were 11-5 last season. The game will be followed by their toughest divisional rival, the Buffalo Bills. Next game will be an easy one with the Jaguars, but then they will be traveling to Dallas to take on the Cowboys. The Cowboys last year were 12-4.

It is interesting that Brady will start his first game after suspension against the Colts. The Colts had bought forward the matter of underinflated footballs.

After the first four games

Once the suspension is over, the Patriots schedule would be easier. They will only face one tough game at Denver in Week 12.

Good news for the Patriots is that they have no clear rivals in the A.F.C. East. Even if the Patriots were to lose a game or two with Brady’s suspension, the Patriots will still be the favorites to win that division.

With or without NFL, the Patriots’ games will still be exciting. The opening game will draw in a lot of attention. So do not miss out any game this year. To watch uninterrupted games of NFL at a low price, opt for NFL Game pass in USA.