Garoppolo: Patriots 'Going In Right Direction'
BOSTON (CBS) -- Jimmy Garoppolo knows that he'll be starting the first four games of the regular season for the New England Patriots.
As for Bill Belichick's plans for the preseason, the third-year quarterback wouldn't say.
"I don't know. Your guess is as good as mine," Garoppolo told reporters Wednesday following Day 2 of joint practices with the New Orleans Saints in Foxboro.
Garoppolo will likely be under center when the Patriots kick off their preseason Thursday night, giving him his first taste as a starting quarterback. He'll have that position when Tom Brady serves his four-game DeflateGate suspension next month, adding a little more pressure and a much brighter spotlight to the quarterback's training camp.
But Garoppolo said his approach with this year's preseason snaps hasn't been much different than his first two training camps in New England.
"[It's been] pretty similar to the last two years, to be honest. It's obviously different than practice. Different situations will come up. You don't know how many snaps you're going to get or how many snaps you're not going to get. It's all coach's call so you've just got to go out there and perform," he said humbly.
Garoppolo himself has enjoyed some mixed results during camp, starting out hot but struggling as of late. We'll see how he bounces back from the rough patch in practice when he gets his first feel for game action Thursday night when the Patriots and Saints kick off the preseason at Gillette Stadium. But so far, he likes how the team looks on the field.
"We're going in the right direction," he said. "We've got to take it day-by-day. You never know who you're going to be out there with. All the tight ends, all the receivers, all the back, all the skill guys on offense. It's a long process in camp but we're definitely going in the right direction."
Still, he knows he has a lot of work to do with his own game before the real season gets underway on September 11 in Arizona.
"There's always room for improvement. As a quarterback, especially as a young quarterback, I'm only going into my third year, so there's always room for improvement; little things here and there that you just pick up on and correct the next day," said Garoppolo.
And while he and his teammates got a chance to take aim at a different set of players the last two days on the practice field, nothing compares to the game itself -- even if it is the preseason.
"It's always different on game day. It's a different feel and everything. You get those butterflies in your stomach and all that. It's awesome," he said. "Football is back now. It's been back for 10 or 11 days but it's been practice so now we get to go out there and play tomorrow night."
Tune in to Thursday's Patriots-Saints preseason game on 98.5 The Sports Hub and WBZ-TV — the flagship stations of the New England Patriots! Pregame coverage begins on 98.5FM at 4:30pm, with a full postgame show following the game. WBZ-TV's pregame coverage kicks off with Patriots GameDay at 7pm, followed by Patriots 5th Quarter after the game!
