Belichick tight-lipped as Garoppolo returns to practice

The third quarterback is looking like the Patriots’ starter when they face the Houston Texans on Thursday night at Gillette Stadium in a matchup of 2-0 teams. The Patriots worked out former Texans quarterback T.J. Yates on Tuesday, but passed on signing him and plan on using receiver Julian Edelman (a college QB) as the backup.

WATT WARMING UP: Last year’s NFL Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt isn’t quite back to full form after July surgery to fix a herniated disk in his back. The Patriots potentially could have just one active quarterback on their roster Thursday night, and they also could be without Rob Gronkowski, their most dynamic offensive weapon.

After enduring the blow of Tom Brady’s four-game suspension, the Patriots were dealt another punch on Sunday when backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppollo left the game with an injury to his throwing shoulder.

On Wednesday, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that the Patriots had done “extensive preparation” in getting Edelman ready to run the offence in the event that Brissett goes down. In truth, there are three major reasons why New England continues to go get a quarterback every year.

The Patriots haven’t had to rely on many of them over the years; other than Garoppolo and Matt Cassel, they’ve all been used pretty much in mop-up duty. I’m not a doctor. Later, Belichick added: “Let me put it a different way – I’m the coach, I do what’s best for the football team”. Rookie QB Jacoby Brissett relieved Garoppolo and led a touchdown drive after the half but also took two sacks on 11 dropbacks. “Whether I was the backup or I was playing past year, I wanted to show up and get better every single day.There was a coach that told me ‘If you’re not getting better, you’re getting replaced'”. We can coach better, we can play better, we can overall in different units execute better collectively, not just individually.

Gronkowski, who’s missed the team’s first two games with a hamstring injury, is one of six players the Patriots listed as questionable. “That Garoppolo took part in practice Tuesday, on a limited basis, reinforces how the Patriots have hopes of him playing this week”.

It’s important to distinguish the difference between preparing to actually play quarterback and practicing to give the defense a quality look.