Patriots’ Jimmy Garappolo Denies Rift, Says Brady “Helped Me So Much”
Any hope of celebrating rookie Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garappolo’s first NFL drive ending in a touchdown was abruptly smothered on Tuesday, as everyone from ESPN to Twitter exploded with rumors of a surly quarterback-to-backup relationship when Tom Brady didn’t seem to acknowledge Garappolo’s scoring drive on the sidelines. After Brady himself diffused the soap-opera hype on WEEI on Tuesday, making it a point to say he was “Happy for Jimmy” and appreciated that the team “…kept fighting at the end”, Jimmy Garappolo sat down with NESN one-on-one to clear the air in his own words.
“No. It was a tough situation,” Garoppolo told NESN.com, when asked whether he was surprised by the lack of appreciation for his first NFL touchdown. “No one’s real excited by a touchdown like that. It was a little bit of a difference scenario. It is what it is.”
(If he hasn’t been in New England for more than a few months, but already has the “It is what it is” line down pat, it’s probably safe to say Belichick isn’t worried about Jimmy running his mouth to the media.)
Garappolo also went a step further and elaborated on how Brady’s mentored him since being drafted from Eastern Illinois University this spring:
“Great, great,” Garoppolo said. “Tom’s like an older brother to me. Throughout OTAs, training camp, all that stuff, he’s helped me so much. It’s great.”
“We’re very similar. He’s just helped me so much. He’s been doing this for a while. His experience has helped me a bunch, and I really thank him a lot.”
Lest it seem like his head was getting too big, Garappolo also noted the complexity of New England’s offense and how absorbing and retaining everything isn’t exactly a chump change achievement.
“It’s a tough system, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right? You learn it eventually.”
“There’s not much simplifying. You gotta know what you gotta know. That’s how the quarterback position is, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
There’s a few ways to read this:
A) Garappolo is telling the truth;
B) Garappolo is smart enough to know that nothing good will come out of not following the company line on the quarterback situation (which he’s surely been briefed on before this interview);
C) Garappolo is telling the truth and is smart enough to know that nothing good will come out of not following the company line on the quarterback situation (which he’s surely been briefed on before this interview).
Recent NFL history has more than a few instances of, ahem, rocky relationships between veteran starting quarterbacks and wet-behind-the-ears backups (looking at you, Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers), but unlike a few other teams that can’t seem to hold a press conference without dumping gasoline on a brushfire, the message from both New England quarterbacks is clear. Nothing to see here, move along.