Garoppolo Uncertain If He'll Start Friday Vs. Panthers
BOSTON (CBS) -- Not even Jimmy Garoppolo knows Bill Belichick's game plan for Friday night's preseason game in Carolina.
Garoppolo is slated to start the first four games of the season with Tom Brady serving his four-game DeflateGate suspension, so it would make sense that Jimmy G is under center for the Patriots in what is considered the closest thing to real football during the preseason.
But as of Wednesday, he wasn't privy to who is starting against the Panthers, or even how much he'll play.
"Your guess is as good as mine. We'll find out together," Garoppolo joked at the podium inside Gillette Stadium. "I'm preparing like I'm going to be the starter. Last week was a good example – you never know what is going to happen."
Garoppolo was all set to let Tom Brady get the start last Thursday against the Bears, until an unfortunate mishap with scissors cut that original game plan to shreds. So Garoppolo got word just before kickoff that he was starting, just another lesson to always be ready in the NFL.
And come Friday night, Garoppolo will be ready to take on one of the NFL's best defenses in the defending NFC champion Carolina Panthers on their home field.
"It will be a good test. It's a very talented D all the way across the board. They have good players everywhere, and we're on the road. It's a close simulation to Week 1," he said. "It'll be good for us."
He hopes to continue to progress in the right direction after having a much better game against the Bears than he did in New England's first preseason game against the New Orleans Saints. Garoppolo isn't thinking about Week 1 of the regular season against a tough Arizona defense, and is setting his sights on what he can do better than last week.
"It was a pretty good night. There's room for improvement here and there," he admitted. "Finishing that drive in the third quarter would have been nice, but overall it was a pretty good night."
He'll also be adjusting to life without center Bryan Stork, who was reportedly released on Wednesday. Garoppolo said losing a teammate to roster cuts is part of the business of football, and the New England staff has a great method of having everyone ready to go, no matter who they're sharing the field with.
"You kind of have to adjust as you go. Coach does a good job mixing and matching guys with starts and second string, whatever it may be. That's kind of how the season goes," he said. "You don't know who is going to be in or who is going to be injured. You just have to react to it."
