Garoppolo ready for next opportunity to show what he can do

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NEW ORLEANS - Last year at this time, Jimmy Garoppolo was a novelty. What did the second round quarterback have? Would he be able to adjust to the complexities of the NFL after playing at Eastern Illinois?
 
To his credit, Garoppolo handled all that was thrown his way, with the light going on in the preseason opener against the Redskins and eventually leading to being named Tom Brady’s backup. 
 
This season, through no fault of his own, there are different expectations for Garoppolo. Right now, he is the starting quarterback for the first four games of the season, unless Brady’s suspension is overturned by a federal judge or a settlement comes into play. Is the now second-year pro ready for that?
 
“i think we’re going in the right direction,” said Garoppolo following practice with the Saints this week. “It’s a day by day thing. You can’t look too far ahead. If we start looking too far past these preseason games, things could start getting ugly, so i just gotta take it day by day, not really looking too far ahead. The rest will take care of itself.”
 
Garappolo heads into Saturday night's second preseason game here in New Orleans having gotten exactly zero repetitions with the first team offense in Thursday’s second joint practice session with the Saints. He watched as Brady put on a clinic, despite all the uncertainty that swirls around the future Hall of Famer.
 
“He’s unbelievable at preparing week in, week out,” admired Garoppolo. “Just being a young guy, you look at that, you know it’s a long season, you try to take a little bit of that and put it toward your game.”
 
Garoppolo has had an uneven training camp, but there were signs during the second half of the preseason opener versus Green Bay and again during his late work against the Saints on Wednesday that perhaps he’s building some positive momentum as we draw nearer to a decision on Brady’s immediate future.
 
“It can’t hurt. It definitely can’t hurt,” said Garoppolo when I asked about the possibility of a strong finish to practice carrying over to the next day. “It’s a long practice. There’s gonna be ups and downs. As a quarterback, you have to be levelheaded. It’s always next play, next play, and if you do that, good things will happen.”
 
That’s precisely what the Patriots are banking on Saturday night.

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