Plan B Planning

Okay, I'm still hopeful the NFL's appeal of Judge Berman's judgment in favor of Tom Brady and Deflategate will fail. I'm not counting on that coming down to a lawyer being found to be lying. (Not exactly man bites dog.) Or science. The last science class most of us took was our junior year in high school and we were happy to get out alive with C-.

Recognizing that justice and the law are at best distant cousins, my hopefulness for Tom Brady playing all 16 has a palpable shadow.

This morning, I hit up YouTube for Jimmy Garoppolo highlights.

Here's what struck me.

 

I think I know why the Patriots picked up Nate Washington and why they haven't cut Aaron Dobson.

Watching those Jimmy G. highlights I was reminded that if there's one thing Garoppolo does better than Tom Brady it's throwing the deep ball outside the numbers. Gronk and Bennett are certainly big enough to win 50/50 balls anywhere on the field but defenses will rightly focus on the two XXL tight ends while trying to keep Lewis and Edelman in front of them. Obviously, those four could make any quarterback look good.

You'd think defenses would put eight in the box, take away the running game and put the ball in Garoppolo's hands. Maybe that would work if the Patriots had a running game to stop and if they didn't have Rob Gronkowski, Martellus Bennett, Dion Lewis and Julian Edelman.

No, opposing defenses will not dictate game plan, even with Jimmy Garoppolo at QB. Patriots gonna be Patriots.

More importantly (perhaps), if I'm Josh McDaniels, within New England's offensive framework, I'm going to play to Jimmy G's strengths while attacking opposing defenses' weaknesses, whether that be through match ups or tactics.

Garoppolo is more mobile than Brady and comfortable rolling out and getting into space where his lack of height won't be an issue. Play action boot and Jimmy G. is already outside the tackle box where he can survey the field and simply throw the ball away if he doesn't like what he sees. He's got the arm strength to throw back across the field or up the near sideline to Dobson or Washington, the quick release to hit Edelman underneath and the touch to let Gronk and Bennett take advantage of size mismatches.

Okay, Washington is on the wrong side of 30, was probably brought in to push Keshawn Martin in training camp rather than replace Danny Amendola; Washington was on the roster bubble the day he was signed. Dobson is a good example of the triumph of hope over reason (or the pigskin equivalent of a crazy ex-girlfriend you can't stop hooking up with) and apparently has hamstrings made of peppermint taffy.

So, yeah, I'm talking myself into this but I just can't help thinking…

It's so crazy it just might work.