Jimmying to Conclusions

I don’t know what Mike Mayock saw the other day but whatever the opposite of “popping” is, Mallett is doing it right now before my very eyes. Ryan Mallett isn’t justifying his backup role for the Patriots let alone laying the groundwork for a starting gig with another team. I can’t help wondering. Is Garoppolo really that bad? Maybe he’s a bad practice/good game kind of guy? No?

I wrote that during halftime of the Patriots preseason game in Washington.

This is going to be a bad week to be Ryan Mallett.

Whatever that ineffable “it” is, it was clear Thursday night in Washington that Jimmy Garoppolo has it and Ryan Mallett does not.

During half-time, the Pats’ pigskin pundits and bobbleheads were talking like I thought there was a lot of pressure on Mallett and he couldn’t really step into his throws and He made some throws and Ryan Mallett can turn this thing around in the second half and crazy talk like that. I’m thinking, Are these guys straight up trippin’ home slice?

Of course, Mallett never had a chance to turn this thing around in the second half as Jimmy Garoppolo put on his angry eyes and gave every man, woman and child in Patriots Nation a reason to believe there is life after Tom Brady.

Garoppolo had struggled in training camp. Reading through the reports from local pigskin pundits, it was clear he was indecisive, inaccurate and he’d thrown like 27,000 interceptions. The notion that he would overtake Mallett had been dismissed. New England would need to carry three quarterbacks with Mallett backing up Brady and Garoppolo takin a red shirt year.

Thursday night, Jimmy G. was 9 of 13 for 157 yards (12.1 average), 1 TD and a 135.7  passer rating.

He was decisive, accurate and that TD pass to Brian Tyms was sweet; a high arching spiral that dropped over the shoulder, on the hands, in stride. Six. Throughout the second half, Garoppolo seemed laser-focused, in charge, comfortable on the big stage, ready to rock, owning it.  

Mallett was 5 of 12 for 55 yards (4.6 average), 0 TD and a 55.0 passer rating.

Mallett was also sacked while Garoppolo was nifty in the pocket, pulling a Houdini on his opening drive, escaping a seemingly certain sack, keeping the play alive and ultimately completing a pass to Brandon LaFell [Edit - Yeah, I think this play actually resulted in an incompletion but it felt like a completion.]

The cameras captured a moment in the first half when Mallett left the field in favor of the punting unit, fairly stomping to the bench, tossing his helmet and sitting disgustedly on the bench. He was alone.

As Washington’s offense was running out the clock at the end of the game there was shot of Jimmy Garoppolo with his posse; smiling, laughing, nodding as his teammates stood by as if drawn by some invisible aura, the benign and reassuring glow of an old soul, a magnetic field generated by whatever heavy metals comprise that ineffable “it.”

It’s going to be a great week to be Jimmy Garoppolo.