Tag: Jimmy Garoppolo

Is Ben Roethlisberger Feeling More Pliable? Steelers QB Says He Wants to Play 3-5 More Years

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Ben Roethlisberger takes an absolute beating for a quarterback. Big Ben is the huge, lumbering, aging, savy veteran thats always extending plays in the pocket and running around before taking some big shots like he’s Cap Rooney.

As a result of that style of play, the last couple of offseasons have unsurprisingly been filled with questions of whether or not Roethlisberger would retire. Well the Steelers just happen to draft a quarterback in the 3rd round and Big Ben conveniently drops this line the other day:

“The way our O-line is put together, as good as they are, they kept me healthy as can be the last couple of years. I really feel I can play this game another three to five years.”

This seems to have shades of Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo, who the Patriots drafted when Brady was *also* 36 years old. When asked why draft a QB, Belichick replied with this famous line that spawned the TB12 institute as we know it today:

“We know what Tom’s age and contract situation is. I don’t think you want to have one quarterback on your team. I don’t think that’s responsible to the entire team or the organization.”

That pissed Tom Brady off more than we’ll ever know and made him recommit to the game. Numbers don’t lie and Brady, albeit slightly, had started to slip a bit at that point in his career. The Pats drafting his heir apparent was likely the thing Brady need to drive him even harder. Starting in 2014, Jimmy G’s first year on the roster, Brady’s numbers improved across the board and of course our favorite vocabulary word was forever etched into the New England lexicon; Pliability.

So is Ben Roethlisberger feeling a little bit salty that his team is planning his funeral and sizing him for a casket while he’s still battling for Super Bowls? You’re goddamn right. Maybe he’s feeling a little more pliable than he was this time last week. Sorry Mason Rudolph, unless Cap Rooney gets his head taken off by a linebacker, you’re ass is riding the pine. God forbid Big Ben finds his way to a TB12 facility, the kid won’t touch the field until his second contract. And I can’t blame Ben either. Imagine your boss telling you this kid is taking your job?

Not a chance in hell kid.

 

Garoppolo to Follow in Young’s Footsteps. Just Not How Anyone Imagined.

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Jimmy Garoppolo was going to be the centerpiece of either Bill Belichick’s Herschel Walker Brooklyn Nets trade or Josh McDaniels’s post-Brady rebuild on the fly. Now he’ll be neither.

Reports of multiple first round picks being offered for Gaoppolo over the summer now seem to have been greatly exaggerated, according to Ian Rapoport.

Looking at things objectively, that makes sense. How can you trade one first round pick, never mind multiple first round picks, for a guy who has started only two NFL games? Matt Cassel had been in the league for four years (as opposed to Garoppolo’s two) and went 10-5 as a starter in 2008 by the time the Patriots traded him in 2009 and the Patriots still had to throw in Mike Vrabel to pry away just one second rounder from the Cheifs.

As a fan, it’s disappointing. Not only do the Patriots not get the haul fans had been teased about, but the trade doesn’t help them out now.  It doesn’t do anything for this year’s team other than leave them without a life preserver in the case of an emergency. The only excuse for not trading Garoppolo before the season is if Belichick still holds a grudge against Cleveland. You gotta respect a good grudge.

Garoppolo could have been the next Steve Young, taking the reigns of an established dynasty after the retirement of a legend and keeping the dynasty going for another decade. Now he follows in Steve Young’s footsteps by taking the reigns of the San Francisco 49ers. It’s nothing like the team Young last played for in 1999, though. Garoppolo is set to be San Francisco’s 16th different starting quarterback since Young last took a snap in 1999.

It would be interesting to find out if Garoppolo had a say in any of this. Given the choice, would he rather have been the Prince of Wales in New England or a starter immediately anywhere else? Seeing so many good quarterbacks have their careers ruined by bad teams, being the Prince of Wales in New England sounds a lot better than being the King in Cleveland, Buffalo, Jacksonville, Minnesota, Chicago or San Francisco.

NFL careers are short, though. Maybe Garoppolo would rather get paid now than sign a team-friendly deal to stay in New England. Who knows when Brady will actually call it quits? There’s no glory in being the President of the Tom Brady Backup Club, the most prestigious backup club since the Brett Favre Backup Club closed its doors in 2008.

With no one left behind him, though, Brady better stick around for at least another two seasons. Otherwise, the 2018 Patriots could look a lot like the 1999 San Francisco 49ers. And no dynasty (or coach) survives an 18-year quarterback search.

ITS NFL TRADE DEADLINE DAY!

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Normally this is the most boring trade deadline in all of sports. Rarely do blockbuster moves take place, whether its because it truly is the No Fun League or if its just too hard to incorporate pieces into a football team mid-season, you just don’t see big trades as often as you do in the NBA or MLB. BUT, that changed last night when the Patriots dealt the presumptive QB of the future in Jimmy Garoppolo to the 49ers.

And just minutes ago the Dolphins traded their starting RB in Jay Ajayi to the Eagles for a 4th round pick.

And now I just saw this tweet from Adam Schefter?

LETS GO! Give me all the trades. I want to see teams getting after it. The Eagles can smell blood as they’re one of the best teams in football this year and they want to strike while the iron is hot, which is great. More teams need to do that. Or accept the fact that your mediocre team ain’t doing shit this year and jump into the trade market.

Surprisingly Patriots Fans On Twitter Are Not Taking The Jimmy Garoppolo Trade Well

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Twitter never reacts positively to ANYTHING, so this isn’t too surprising, but the wrath is real. I don’t remember this many people questioning a Belichick move in a long time. Usually most fans are like eh its Belichick he know what he’s doing, I trust him. But now? People are in open rebellion against the crown. Keep crushing that avocado ice cream Tom because whether you were serious or not, you’re gonna have to play until your 50 now.

Patriots Trade Jimmy Garoppolo to 49ers for 2nd Round Pick. Huh??

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Here I am minding my own business eating dinner and my phone starts BLOWING UP. At 8 pm on a Monday.

And I finally relent and check my notifications to see that the Patriots have traded Jimmy Garoppolo to the 49ers for a 2nd round pick. Huh?

Now, if the rumors by our old friend Mary Kay Cabot from the Cleveland Plain Dealer are true then this is a disaster. Cabot had been on a goddamn crusade telling anyone and everyone that the Browns were willing to basically give away their entire 2017 Draft to the Pats to get Garoppolo, but the Pats declined. First round pick. Two first round picks. You name it, Mary Kay reported it. Now Adam Schefter staunchly denied those reports saying the Pats were NOT trading Jimmy G. As he famously, and snarkily said: “Do I sound clear on that?”

The ONLY way this trade makes any sense is if the Patriots had hoped to work out some kind of bridge deal with Jimmy G and wait another year or two behind Brady and he flat out said no. Which I can’t blame the guy for, he sees QBs in his draft class like Derek Carr and Blake Bortles making big money and says enough is enough, now is my time. No more waiting. Thats the only reason this deal makes sense. Why else would the Patriots reportedly turn down a Top 12 pick (or two Top 12 picks) from the Browns in the 2017 Draft just 6 months ago? If thats the case then Belichick took a gamble and lost. Granted it’ll be a great second round pick, probably anywhere from No. 33-35 overall. But still, seems like a pretty underwhelming return for a guy that the Pats were, reportedly, turning down multiple first round picks for and had plans for him to be the QB of the future.

Now the next question is, umm who the fuck is the backup quarterback of the New England Patriots? Belichick has now traded the No. 2 and No. 3 QBs on the roster, having sent Jacoby Brissett to the Colts as well. Not ideal for a team banking on a 40 year old QB to stay healthy. It certainly makes a lot more sense now that the Pats were working out scrub backup QBs like the Yates of Hell a few weeks ago. So who is gonna be TB12’s backup now?

BAH GAWD IS THAT JOHNNY FOOTBALL’S MUSIC??

Is Jimmy Garoppolo Insane for Asking for this at Dunkin Donuts?

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So Patriots All Access teased an upcoming segment about Jimmy Garoppolo’s first trip to Dunkin Donuts, which can border on a religious experience for a lot of people in Boston. Welp, swing and a miss for ya boy.


A vanilla long-john? A what? Is that code for drugs? Are you trying to score some smack at Dunkies, Jimmy?

I remember going to school down in CT where it was a mashup of New England, New York, and New Jersey kids so there was plenty of occurrences like this. People would look at me like I was having a stroke when I said “lets go to the packy.” So I get it, but Jimmy my man, this is nonsensical stuff. We’re gonna have to get the heads of Chicago together and talk about this. Grab Kanye, Chance, and Carl Winslow so they can put a stop to this before it goes too far.

Does the Firing of Jeff Fisher Pave the Way for Josh McDaniels as the Next HC of the Los Angeles Rams?

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So after getting smoked by the Falcons on Sunday the Rams would have to win out to even be lucky enough to have “7-9 bullshit.” With Fisher suddenly out as the Rams coach there is now an opening in Southern California, with a new stadium coming, a huge market, the 2016 No. 1 overall pick at QB and an opportunity to really build a franchise.

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I know there have been reports this season saying that Josh McDaniels is indeed interested in head coach openings. So does this pave the way for McDaniels to leave the Pats and head for LA? With another deep playoff run and an already strong body of work running offenses obviously through Brady, but also Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett this season McDaniels seems to be lining himself up nicely for a new gig.

McDaniels was definitely humbled by his flameout in Denver (great story by Bleacher Report on those lessons he learned here) and already has some familiarity with the Rams, albeit in St. Louis, having been their offensive coordinator in 2011. All before coming back to the Patriots as an offensive assistant and then once again as the OC after Bill O’Brien took the Texans HC job. So its not a stretch to make the connection. And while I’d love to have McD stick around, it doesn’t look like Bill Belichick is going anywhere any time soon. So can you really fault the guy?

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This may be the best job opening in the NFL. Usually when a job opens up its in a shit market like Cleveland, which I think McDaniels has made obvious he does not want to do. He’s also gotta be real careful what situation he ultimately decides to go with because this will probably be his last shot to show he can be a successful head coach in this league. So it really comes down to Jared Goff, who has looked absolutely abysmal in his brief experience as a starting QB. Does McDaniels believe he can work with Goff and make him a star? Because if he does, take the job. If not, he may want to rethink it. But this is the same guy who helped get the Pats to 11 wins with Matt Cassel and had a record of 3-1 with 2nd and 3rd string QB’s this season.

Who the hell wouldn’t want this job?

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Opportunity for Jimmy Garoppolo Could Have Huge Payoff for the Patriots

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Yahoo Sports – Jimmy Garoppolo finds himself in a good situation. He can prepare all offseason as if he’ll be the New England Patriots’ starting quarterback for the first four games of the season, thanks to Tom Brady’s deflate-gate suspension…Think about Brock Osweiler, who was looking at the possibility of going into free agency with almost no regular-season snaps on tape. But Peyton Manning got hurt, Osweiler showed enough in seven starts with the Denver Broncos last season to get a $72 million deal from the Houston Texans, and now he’s their starter.

It’s tough to admit, but the whole Deflategate witch hunt may end up being a good thing for the Patriots. Regardless of all the other shit, it’s looking more and more likely Tom Brady is going to miss 4 games. It’s unlikely that Jimmy Garoppolo is going to play well enough for Belichick and the Patriots to give Brady the Drew Bledsoe treatment, but that’s why this may pay off even better for the Pats. Most people kind of scratched their head when the Pats took Garoppolo in the 2nd round back in 2014. For one, it was the highest Belichick had ever drafted a QB with the Patriots and two, it seemed a year too early.

We all know the Brady decline is going to come eventually, but it doesn’t seem like we’re quite there yet. So the Pats wasted a draft pick right? That may have been true if NFL head coaches didn’t get borderline aroused about young QB’s with potential. I mean look at all the absolute scrubs that have swindled huge contracts from teams based on nothing but potential and limited snaps. If you don’t have a great QB in this league it’s damn hard to be successful so coaches and GMs are willing to roll the dice continuously hoping to strike gold. That’s how guys like Matt Cassel, Matt Schaub, Matt Flynn and most recently Brock Osweiler have landed mega deals with virtually no real playing experience.

Which brings me back to Belichick, this guy is always five steps ahead of the rest of the league. Sure he couldn’t have known Brady would get suspended and give Jimmy G a 4 game audition as trade bait, but we all know TB12 ain’t retiring any time soon. So the Garoppolo pick was definitely made with the ulterior motive of flipping him for even more draft capital. If Garoppolo comes in and plays well, you could very easily get a 1st round pick for a young, promising QB who’s spent the past few years being groomed by the best coach and QB in the game. Jimmy gets paid, Belichick gets TWO 1st round picks in 2017 (giving Gooddell the finger in the process), Brady continues doing Brady things and we start this process over again with Jacoby Brissett, who is more likely on the track to eventual Patriots starter down the line.

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