Curran: Jimmy G. now has even more in common with Romo

Share

FOXBORO – Last week, Cardinals coach Bruce Arians offered a comp to Jimmy Garoppolo.

Tony Romo.

With the red-hot Garoppolo’s afternoon likely ended by a hard landing on his right shoulder, the Romo comp is worth remembering.

Garoppolo had several first-half plays on which he bought time, moved in the pocket, stayed in against the rush and delivered while taking a shot.

GAROPPOLO INJURED: Jimmy G. hurts shoulder | Perry: Behind Brissett, there's . . . Edelman?

It was on his 27th attempt of the first half that Garoppolo got driven into the turf. He will either have a broken collarbone or AC joint separation (a.k.a. dislocated shoulder).

In summing up Garoppolo, Arians said, “Not a really powerful deep throwing arm, but very accurate and gets it out of his hand fast.

“Tony was the same way coming out and had a lot of success early. Athletic with their legs. It got Tony broken up a bit, but Jimmy’s not there yet.”

Garoppolo isn’t broken up by one shoulder injury but the kind of hit he took Sunday is one that --– as he goes along -- he’ll have to guard against. Shoulders, once injured, are notoriously easy to reinjure.

Take care of yourself, adjust your style or live the life of the oft-injured Romo.

As for the Patriots and Garoppolo, it easily got lost in the feel-good first half as Garoppolo was on pace to throw for 500 yards (he left 18-for-27 for 234) that the risk of getting Garoppolo whacked and starting the Jacoby Brissett Era was still just a hit away.

Garoppolo wasn’t playing with a “live for the next play” mentality and showing great foresight even when the lead ballooned to 21-0. And he can’t really be blamed for that as someone who spent two seasons watching and finally has his chance to lead this team for a month.

But the reality now is that Garoppolo will likely be down a while and the team is going to have to cull the ranks of untethered quarterbacks and find one to back up Brissett.

Garoppolo got the Patriots through almost 6 of the 16 quarters Tom Brady will be down. He was better than expected. By a lot. The team outscored Arizona and Miami 44-21 while he was in there. He went 42-for-60 for 498 yards with four TDs and no picks.

But Jimmy G is now on ice. And that’s a cold shower for overheated Patriots fans on this Sunday.

Contact Us