Barring a reduction to Tom Brady's four-game suspension, Patriots backup Jimmy Garoppolo will run the show until New England's star passer returns.
Running back LeGarrette Blount believes the team can win with either quarterback.
"I feel like Jimmy can hold his own," Blount told SiriusXM NFL Radio on Monday. "I feel like he can go in there and hold his own. He's playing up under the greatest quarterback, man, you can't do nothing but learn from him.
"I like Jimmy a lot, and I think he takes his job very seriously and he also has fun with it," Blount said. "I feel like if he goes in there, he's going to be productive and I think he's going to be good. I don't think he's going to go out there and do anything crazy. I think he's going to go out there and do exactly what they tell him to do."
Garoppolo sniffed his first few snaps with the starters during Saturday's practice, working with tight end Rob Gronkowski and receiver Julian Edelman, according to NFL Media's James Palmer, who noted that Garoppolo threw "pass after pass" to first-teamers and "showed that touch that (coach) Bill Belichick likes."
No team does a better job of preparing its players to perform inside an Erhardt-Perkins offensive scheme that plays with pace and approach on a weekly basis. If there's a silver lining to Brady's suspension, it's the timing of it all. Coaches have been working with Garoppolo all summer.
We don't know if he can play, but Garoppolo won't be marched out as some clueless newbie signed off the street. Brady's backup will be well-prepared and packed into a game plan that caters to his strengths.
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