When there’s been 14 back ups to Sir Tom since 2001, that’s a lot of people to fend off for your starters jersey in 18 years. To say Tom Brady is still going after 18 years is phenomenal also.

However, in those 18 years there’s not been many (if any) that can say they’ve been a legitimate threat than Jimmy Garoppolo . That’s until now and that threat goes by the name Jarrett Stidham, the 4th rounder out of Auburn.

Now strictly speaking, he isn’t the backup yet as he’s third on the depth chart ahead of last years rookie Danny Etling but behind veteran journeyman Brian Hoyer. The 2009 draft pick from Michigan State, made by the Patriots, has been around a number of teams before making his way back to the Patriots after being released by the 49ers when they acquired Garoppolo for a 2nd round pick in the 2018 draft.

In recent rookie mini camps and OTA’s it’s been said that there are strong comparisons between Stidham and Garoppolo, and so I decided to take a closer look at those and make up my own mind.

The obvious difference is that Jimmy G has had some game time in the NFL and Stidham is a rookie who has just been picked up in the draft but viewing tape on them both. They’re both patient in the pocket, progress through their reads when required and are usually quite good at decision making. Like Garoppolo, they can both crumble when pressured and it can result in overthrowing and/or interceptions. However, in defence of Stidham, his offensive line was quite poor at Auburn. This resulted in greater pressure than what he possibly could’ve faced had the line stood up more.

His completion stats, of 224/369 for 2794 yards was a percentage completion rate of 60.7%, could’ve been higher but again it wasn’t entirely his fault. There were so many passes dropped by the receivers, that could’ve made him look a lot better but when evaluating you can see the accuracy of throws is generally there. What is lacking is the “NFL pass”. This being the eye of the needle stuff that puts you in the elite bracket rather than the brackets below. It’s good but not great. As a QB you want to be great or better! This is possibly why the projected 2nd rounder fell a couple?

Overall though, what tape I’ve reviewed you can see he could become a great QB. I was gutted but elated for Jimmy Garoppolo when he got traded to the Bay Area but when Tom Brady has no intentions of going anywhere then what is a man to do? In soccer you can sit on the bench and pick up a pay cheque or you can fight for what you surely want to do and that’s first-team soccer and starting every week and if that’s in a different organisation, then so be it.

This has obviously opened the door for someone else, so let’s hope it goes that bit better for Jarrett Stidham as Old Father Time will catch up with Sir Tom sooner than later.

Verdict: C+ with bags of potential to get an A

So… the podcast is out! Well, the trailer/preview episode is. I’m still awaiting confirmation from Apple that they’ve given it the green light but you can find it on Anchor, Spotify and some other podcast scrapers.

Be sure to give it a listen and hit subscribe so you’ll get Episode 1 as soon as it drops.

Thanks

So I’m edging ever closer to FINALLY getting a podcast of my own. I’ve taken inspiration from others and decided F it, I’m doing it.

It’s been a long time coming but it’ll come to fruition soon.

One thing I wanted to do was start a blog, which I have done. Admittedly I’ve not written as much as I’d like but baby steps haha.

With the launch of the podcast it will help spur me on to write more because I need things to chat about on the pod and in turn write about.

All to be revealed soon!

It’s with a heavy heart that I write today that Robert James Gronkowski has retired from the NFL.

He has been a pivotal part of the time I’ve been watching the New England Patriots. His fun, carefree attitude out with his work ethic and dedication to his craft has been awe inspiring. He’s ran cruise ship boat parties, appeared in Demi Lovato videos and been a general dude around town. I think this was epitomised when Brandin Cooks piggybacked on Gronk’s back in celebration for him to later say in the press conference “We got yelled at we aren’t allowed to talk about celebrations. But I kind of want to talk about it, but I kinda don’t because I will get in trouble. So I don’t know what to do.“

The Man is a sure thing, 1st ballot Hall of Famer and will go down in history as one of the greatest Tight End’s in the history of the sport and definitely the greatest in New England’s history.

His career stats and records are phenomenal and hard to beat so only time will tell how others follow in his footsteps.

In the latter stages he became more of a blocker with his production falling and that ill-fated play in the Miami Miracle could’ve been a legacy tarnished but in the post-season he stepped up in KC AND in the Super Bowl itself. “Thank goodness” I said to myself.Phew! A huge sigh of relief.

Austin Seferian-Jenkins is the next man up with HUGE shoes to fill. Fingers crossed he’s half as good.

Let’s see how the draft plays out also.

(This was originally written on April 10th but forgot to post it)

So… I’ve been shit and not written since week 2 of the regular season. One of my new year resolutions is to write more on this site and here we are at Super Bowl Sunday with my first post of the year. Oh well, I promise myself I’ll get better.

I did start to write before the Colts game but fell asleep and woke up with the game in progress and posting a preview seemed silly. Anyways, on to the BIG GAME!!!!

I thought before the AFC Championships game that if we got past the Chiefs, we’d win the Super Bowl. Going in to Arrowhead I felt that it was a difficult, hostile place to go and the toughest challenge of the season. The hostility was there but in comparison to the Super Dome in New Orleans it lacked a bit of punch. I think that was down to Arrowhead being an open top bowl shape and the noise going up into the ether. We won the game and here we are, so why the nervousness?! To me the game against Kansas City was very dominant and one sided until the fourth quarter when Andy Reid and his Chiefs finally adjusted and started making plays. Let’s hope that if something similar happens in Atlanta, the Patriots are out of sight by 25 points to nullify anything that’s done towards the end of the game.

My main concern comes from the Rams RPO and screen plays very similar to what Philadelphia did last year. I remember screaming at my TV as Corey Clement came off the edge a few times to little or no coverage and picked up big yards. This is what Gurley will be used for this weekend. We saw it against the Saints but he was off form that night and dropped a couple of passes. The other fear is the soft zone coverage that’s built in to the Rams playbook. Goff will look for the crossing routes between the lines to Cooks or Woods who then switch on the afterburners as they race away from the linebackers. Cooks is an obvious outside threat with his speed but I think he’ll be used more horizontally and Reynolds could be the unexpected deep threat like Hogan is for us.

I’m not sure how much the Tightends will be a factor. My guess is Higbee and Everett will have a lot of paint on their boots as they hug the sidelines looking to gain 3 and 4 yard plays. They’ll maybe try to match them up against the McCourty twins but I think they’ll be placed on the heels of Cooks and Woods with the receivers going more deep and an option 1 or 2 read with option 3 being the Tightend on a shorter play gain. Enough to keep them marching downfield. CJ Anderson will lose the necessary 5 stone his doctor will have advised him to do in this game alone! He will be a huge bowling ball trying to knock over the Patriots skittles and happily be the bell cow that’s required to chip away at the Patriots.

LA might be a flashy place with Hollywood and the like on the doorstep of their building and the Rams may have flashy/brash players like Aqib Talib and Ndomukong Suh but Sean McVey will have a Patriots approach to this match and be happy to march down the field, keep the chains moving, keep the clock going towards zero and keep Tom Brady off the field. As much as it would be amazing for the neutral (and casual viewer) I don’t think this will be a hundred point game similar to the Chiefs game but you will still see a great game nonetheless.

What we saw the Patriots do in overtime of the Championship game, is what the Rams will try to emulate as the great saying goes “If you can’t beat’em, join em.”. Trying to play Coach Belichick at his own game is madness and that’s why I’m sayin “PATRIOTS WIN BABY! WOOOOO!!!”

Seriously though, I’m sticking to what I said at the start and what I said 2 weeks ago. This is a neutral field that will feel like home cos the New England Patriots fans always travel well. This nonsense that everything is taken for granted is bullshit. The true fans (and this year especially) never take getting to a Super Bowl for granted. The atmosphere will completely different and I don’t even think the Patriots haters in the crowd will be able to silence the Patriots fans.

As much as Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots love to apparently bore everyone with how they approach games, the razzmatazz will be from the men in white uniforms. Expect a flea-flicker or two and the guy who Tweeted a requestabet to SkyBet has a similar theory to me. Julian Edelman to score a TD PASS is not out with the realms of possibility and I’d give it a 65/35% chance of happening. Look back at some of Baltimore’s games with Jackson under centre and I think that’s how the Patriots nullify Suh and Donald. Outsmart them and out power them. Push the line one way or the other and Michel can run that way or James White can catch the opposite. Bootlegs and screens will be huge to the Patriots and Brady to catch a pass (maybe even a TD from Edelman) might well be the play that clinches ring number 6. What a story that would be!

So this Sunday at 9:25pm UK time, the AFC Championship rematch, as it’s being billed, takes place in the Sunshine State. Admittedly the Patriots don’t have the greatest of weapons at the minute but does that mean we should be worried? Should we be trembling at the thought of Sacksonville in Jacksonville?

At the start of the season I would’ve said yes but now I’m not so sure. Fournette is struggling with a hamstring injury, Yeldon is more of a backfield catcher than straight up grab the ball and run kind of guy and then there’s Blake Bortles… They don’t have a true number one receiver (or at least not figured out who it is yet) as last week the receptions were spread around with Westbrook getting 5 and Cole 3 whilst other receptions were shared between the runners and Seferian-Jenkins.

Until Doug Marrone trusts his QB to take them to the house with aggressive play start to finish then Bortles and the Jaguars will continue to struggle when it matters. They’re a run first team and when everyone knows you’re a run first team it’s easier to defend. Couple that with a promising glimpse of Patriots pass-rush, then I feel a lot happier about going in to TIAA Bank Field and taking home a W.

Match-ups to look out for:

Rob Gronkowski vs Jalen Ramsey – If you need to put your best Corner up against a TE then it says it all. It’s a waste of a Corner Back and plays in to Gronk’s hands.

Corderelle Patterson vs anyone – I have a sneaky feeling that Patterson might have a reasonably big involvement in this game than last week, especially now that Jeremy Hill has been confirmed on IR for the season. You could also replace Patterson with Corey Coleman as he could be thrown in on a few plays to surprise the Jags.

Yannick Ngakoue vs Trent Brown – This match-up is so intriguing it gives me goosebumps. If Brown repeats last week’s performance then he should keep Ngakoue quiet and Brady on his feet but if there’s any chink in the armour he could be flat on his back, along with Brady and the chances of a Patriots win.

All in all I feel relatively confident about this one but wouldn’t be surprised if we do lose. I’d rather take a loss now than in January when it really matters and being 1-1 is better than the 0-2 I thought we’d be to start the season.

Prediction: Patriots 24 – Jaguars 20