Howe: Jimmy Garoppolo Has The Tools, 'Just In A Bit Of A Slump'
BOSTON (CBS) -- With Tom Brady sitting out the first four games of the season, the spotlight has been on Jimmy Garoppolo down at Gillette Stadium.
He got off to a great start in training camp, but has since cooled off a bit over the last few days. The Boston Herald's Jeff Howe joined 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich on Tuesday to discuss Garoppolo's struggles, and what the third-year quarterback needs to do to bust out of the slump.
"There has been a dip, and that was somewhat expected. You knew there would be a point like this, you just want to know how long it's going to last," said Howe. "The first seven practices he completed 76, 77 percent of his passes. That's really good -- it's where Brady usually is. The last three, he's been down to 61 percent. He threw an interception yesterday into traffic against the second team defense that was the worst ball he's thrown over his 200+ attempts in camp."
Howe notes that Garoppolo has struggled to handle the pass rush, forcing throws to whoever is coming out of the New England backfield.
"The problem I'm having with him is he's having an issue with the pass rush. Some of that is because the offensive line isn't helping him and part of it is the Patriots have a real good pass rush. But when he sees that pass rush, sometimes he's holding the ball too long and other times he's relying on the check downs too much. He's thrown the ball to James White a ton the last week, and he threw a bunch to Donald Brown in the first week before he got hurt," noted Howe. "I don't think throwing the ball to the running back, on its own, is a bad idea. But if you're relying on it too much, especially on a check down -- the Patriots run a lot of routes for guys like White, Brown and Dion Lewis. That's fine, but my issue with the check downs is you're going to go against a Cardinals defense that is really fast in the back seven in Week 1."
Howe says the Cardinals are one of the teams that can really make life difficult for a quarterback, especially one that is making his first career start.
"They can dial-up the blitzes a little and now they have Chandler Jones and a revamped pass rush," he said. "They'll do all they can to expose the weak point in the Patriots line, and if Sebastian Vollmer isn't back, we know where that weak point is going to be. Then they'll overload coverage over the middle against guys they see as Garoppolo's safety checks."
The Patriots welcome the New Orleans Saints into Foxboro for a pair of joint practices on Tuesday and Wednesday prior to Thursday's preseason opener, and Howe is hoping to see Garoppolo put in a lot of work with the first team.
"What I want to see more is Garoppolo push the ball down the field. He's done a good job at that and has tot trust the decisions he was able to make in those first seven practices. He's made throws into tight windows into the second and third level to [Aaron] Dobson, and showed patience down around the goal line," said Howe. "He has the tools, it's just right now, he's in a little bit of a slump."
Howe also touched on what to expect out of this week's joint practices, and discussed his article on the potential breakout season for Patriots defensive lineman Malcom Brown. Listen to the full interview in the podcast below:
