Dropping temperatures and colorful leaves means sunday night football season has finally arrived. If you’re a true bostonian and a fellow Pats fan, you already know about the tragic Deflategate scandal involving the New England Patriots ever so famous quarterback Tom Brady. Brady was suspended after supposedly lowering the footballs air pressure in the 2015 championship game against the Indianapolis Colts. After attempting to appeal, Brady has finally agrees to not fight against the legal process any further and take his suspension of four game.
To think losing one key player just before the start of the season wasn’t enough, tight end Rob Gronkowski was reported to be out for a week due to a hamstring injury. With both TB12 and Gronk out for the season opener, I’m sure some, if not most, had some doubt about the Patriots having a successful outcome there first game.
Who could fill Brady’s shoes? Backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, the team’s second draft pick, was put to the test in the team’s first regular season game against the Arizona Cardinals. The young protégée from Illinois has had a few encounters leading the team’s offense on the field, but this was his big break. Having played in most of the pre-season games, the team and coach Bill Belichick were confident starting the somewhat new rookie.
Not only being a huge piece of eye candy, turns out Garoppolo is also one hell of a football player. Despite the pressure of meeting the teams and fans expectations, he lead the Patriots in their first victory of the season, beating the Cardinals with a score of 23-21. The QB seemed to have no nerves, completing 24 out of 33 passes and throwing no interceptions. With the help of his offense, Jimmy G’s first NFL start was one for the books. We’ll see if he continues to live up to expectations while Brady is gone. Who knows, maybe No. 10 will give Brady a run for his money.