Don’t Ask Bill Belichick If Jimmy Garoppolo Will Replace Tom Brady Permanently

One of the priorities for the New England Patriots in this season’s training camp is to get backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo up to speed. Garoppolo (or someone else) will have to start the first four games of the season due to Tom Brady’s suspension for the Deflated Gate affair. Patriot’s coach Bill Belichick already has announced the obvious, that Brady’s the starter again once he returns for Game 5 no matter how Garoppolo performs.

Well, to most people, Belichick’s announcement on July 27th would be the definitive statement on the subject. Most people, but not all, as a reporter asked Belichick at his July 28th press conference if Garoppolo could start Game 5 if he played well. Belichick’s reaction:

Tom Brady’s accomplishments include four Super Bowl titles, three Super Bowl MVP awards, two NLF MVP awards, over 58,000 regular season passing yards, 428 regular season touchdown passes, and on and on. Jimmy Garoppolo is a third year backup quarterback out of Eastern Illinois University. He’s completed 20 of 31 passes for 182 yards and one touchdown in his first two seasons. The only mystery here is how that reporter, who mercifully for him has remained nameless in all the reports we’ve seen, could have possibly gotten the job of covering an NFL team.