As a New York Jets fan, I’ve to face the truth that Tom Brady has owned my group and all the AFC East for many years.
So forgive me if I really feel just a little little bit of schadenfreude that it’s August seventeenth and the New England Patriots can’t determine who shall be within the lineup for the common season opener in Cincinnati in three weeks Beginning quarterback.
A brand new period has dawned in Foxborough.
Not solely are the Patriots 5 years faraway from Brady’s closing stretch as quarterback, however they’re now transferring ahead with out Invoice Belichick pulling the strings. Jerod Mayo is beginning over after the Patriots traded former first-round decide Mac Jones.
Mayo made the security determination to open camp and mentioned Jacoby Brissett was their beginning quarterback as a result of he was probably the most “prepared” man within the room. Third total decide Drake Maye is slowly beginning to overtake him. On Friday, after the Patriots’ second preseason sport, Mayo mentioned the sport “is certainly not over.”
Will New England wait till Week 7 or Week 9 to show the facility over to the rookie? The 2 guys forward of Meyer, Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels, are undoubtedly starters in Chicago and Washington. Meyer ought to be a part of them and begin Week 1.
This is not probably the most embarrassing quarterback scenario within the NFL this yr. The Atlanta Falcons paid Kirk Cousins a fortune after which pissed him off by drafting Michael Penix Jr. with the eighth decide. However Brissett, who signed a one-year, $8 million deal to return to the group that drafted him in 2016, has hindered the Patriots’ path ahead.
I’ve all the time been an enormous fan of Brissett. The man has been in some bizarre conditions earlier than, like in 2019 when Andrew Luck retired just a few weeks into the season and Brissett was the shock starter all yr for the Indianapolis Colts , carried out nicely. Then got here 2022, the place he led the Cleveland Browns for 11 video games earlier than Deshaun Watson got here out of suspension.
Brissett is now 31 and 32, and if the preseason outcomes imply something to you, he hasn’t set the world on hearth but. A 3-out single within the opener preceded Meyer’s introduction. 17 yards and an interception ultimately zone towards the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday.
Meyer has proven regular enchancment in Mayo’s view, speeding for touchdowns on six of 11 passes in restricted motion Thursday.
“A number of the issues which have occurred in the previous few weeks are including to the stress. I feel he is doing a greater job total of utilizing his legs and actually extending the sport,” Mayo mentioned.
“… He must be faster, get guys out and in of site visitors quicker, get to the free throw line and be correct. That is one thing he must work on, and he undoubtedly is. We nonetheless have three days of coaching camp, and that shall be That is what I emphasised to him.
Appears like a man who plans to attend till the final minute to disclose his name for Week 1.
Whatever the quarterback determination, the Patriots — and as a Jets member, I am more than pleased to say this — will not be aggressive this season. They only traded disgruntled go rusher Matthew Judon. Brandon Aiyuk, who’s inside putting distance of beating the Payments, Dolphins and Jets into the AFC East, is not within the 49ers after a commerce supply to them fell by. Aiyuk woos. So put Meyer at middle, get him reps as quickly as doable, and begin planning your future.
Or Mayo may all the time name his previous teammate Brady. Appears like he thinks he can nonetheless toss the pigskin round.
