Texans not fazed by QB uncertainty for Patriots

Facing the Miami Dolphins, the Patriots were cruising to a 2-0 start to the season behind three touchdown passes from Garoppolo before his right shoulder was driven into the turf on a hit by Kiko Alonso.

Jimmy Garoppolo (10) throws a pass for for a 15-yard reception in the second half.

After Garoppolo’s injury Sunday, the possibility of the Patriots signing another quarterback was widely discussed in media circles, but the early indications Monday were that the Patriots weren’t thinking along the same lines.

Were Garoppolo not able to suit up, wide receiver Julian Edelman would presumably be the backup quarterback. “We’ve just got to do a better job”. The Patriots organization wins a little newfound admiration for doing something aside from winding Brady up and plopping him down on the field.

If he’s out for two games, then the Patriots will have to be ready for the Jacoby Brissett experience.

Ryan Tannehill was terrible for much of the game, but found success in the second half and had the Dolphins in position to tie the game had his pass into the end zone in the dying seconds been caught by a player on his team, instead of the other.

Tannehill, 0-5 against the Patriots in Foxborough, believed they can build on that this week as they head home to host Cleveland after two road losses.

For slightly more than a quarter and half Sunday, New England quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo put up game statistics against the Miami Dolphins that signal callers would kill to have over an entire game. That’s like waking up an hour late for work and thinking you can make up for lost time. We have to give them a chance to have some kind of opportunity to operate with some space or momentum or something.

“I thought we played good complementary football”, Belichick said of his offensive and defensive play to start. The Patriots honored a Red Sox great before the game – David Ortiz coming out of the tunnel wearing a Tom Brady No. 12 jersey but quickly added a No. 34 presented to him by Patriots owner Robert Kraft – with “Big Papi” on the back.

“It’s always frustrating to lose any player on any position”.

Linebacker Dont’a Hightower (knee) was also among the Patriots’ inactive players for the game.

BRISSETT’S CONFIDENCE: Brissett didn’t seem consumed by the moment with Garoppolo going down.

Garoppolo’s second straight strong start ended prematurely after the up-and-coming quarterback sprained his AC joint against the Miami Dolphins. We did a good job finishing in the red zone, which we didn’t do as well last week.

He and Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels will have a short week to get ready to face the Texans.

STARTING SLOWLY: The Dolphins limited New England to a single second-half touchdown, which probably had a lot to do with Garoppolo getting knocked out of the game. “I said, ‘You got another one today!’ It’s pretty incredible”. He orchestrated a touchdown drive on the Patriots’ first drive of the second half, capped by a run by LeGarrette Blount.