It was a rough outing for New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in the team's third preseason game against the Carolina Panthers on Friday. New England went three-and-out on its first two drives, and Brady tossed interceptions on each of the following two drives. From there it was two more three-and-outs and it was looking like Brady's day was done.
NFL scores and results 2015: Tom Brady throws 2 picks but recovers, Jimmy Garoppolo solid
Tom Brady struggled out of the gate but recovered with a beautiful touchdown throw, and backup Jimmy Garoppolo looked solid once again in preseason action Friday.
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But the Patriots kept him out there and he managed to sneak in a scoring drive before the half, leading the Patriots seven plays and 80 yards, capped off with an excellent 18-yard touchdown to tight end Scott Chandler. Ultimately, Brady finished the game having completed 7 of 13 passes for 84 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.
The Patriots still don’t know if Brady will actually start for them at the beginning of the regular season due to the ongoing controversy with DeflateGate. That’s still a big question mark, but for now, they have this to be encouraged by:
After Brady, Jimmy Garoppolo came in and had a good outing. Garoppolo will be the guy to start if Brady serves all or part of his four-game suspension. Garoppolo showed a strong command of the offense and wound up finishing with 13 of 17 completions for 126 yards and a touchdown.
3 things we learned from Friday’s games
Extra points are hard
Up until this offseason, extra points have been the easiest part of any kicker’s job in the NFL. It’s the equivalent of shrugging with your foot. Many wondered why they lined up for the thing at all given the high percentage with which they were converted. But the NFL elected to move the extra point try back this season, to give teams incentive to perhaps attempt 2-point conversions with more frequency.
There's Kansas City Chiefs kicker Cairo Santos missing an extra point attempt. He was not the first to do so this preseason and he also wasn't the last:
There’s Matt Prater also missing an extra point. Obviously, kickers are still going to make a majority of extra points at this stage -- most of them are fairly good at kicking footballs in the general direction they want them to go in -- but this will surely be a factor in deciding at least one real, meaningful football game this coming season.
Smith finds WR for TD again
It's not a fluke! Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith went an obscenely long time without throwing a touchdown to a wide receiver, not doing so once throughout the 2014 season. But he broke that skid when he found Jeremy Maclin for a touchdown in Week 2 of the preseason. The caveat there is that Maclin was lined up as a running back on that play.
Well, here's Smith hitting Maclin again for a nice catch-and-run touchdown. That play went 29 yards, and now we know for certain Smith can, in fact, still throw touchdowns to wide receivers. It's also worth noting that Smith had a fantastic night for the Chiefs, playing a lot less than expected probably because he showed the Chiefs everything he needed to show. Aaron Murray got time with the starters.
Mariota still looks fine
The Tennessee Titans invested the second overall pick in quarterback Marcus Mariota, and he's yet to do anything disastrous through three preseason games. Mariota didn't play as much as expected on Friday, but he completed 7 of 11 passes for 99 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. He also carried the ball three times for 22 yards, and was sacked once for a loss of 8 yards.
Mariota got off to a rough start against the Atlanta Falcons in the team's first preseason game, throwing an interception, but finished that one 7-of-8 for 94 yards, and completed 5 of 8 passes for 59 yards against the St. Louis Rams. Thus far, he's done nothing fancy and nothing egregiously bad, which is probably enough for a Titans team still in transition. They'll want to see him flash more big-play potential down the line, but for now, he seems to be picking things up at a satisfactory pace.
Final scores
New England Patriots 17, Carolina Panthers 16
The Patriots were never going to be concerned with a couple of Brady interceptions, but they did have to be pleased when he threw that touchdown before the half, and they have to like the play from Garoppolo. The Panthers gave Cam Newton a long look and it wasn't all pretty, but he finished 17-of-28 for 160 yards and a touchdown.
On the other hand, Newton was sacked twice for a loss of 19 yards, which you definitely don't want to see. Carolina tight end Greg Olsen did catch six passes for 51 yards, which is good given the season-ending injury to Kelvin Benjamin. Jerricho Cotchery caught four passes for 38 yards but left the game with an injury, while Ted Ginn caught three passes for 30 yards.
Kansas City Chiefs 34, Tennessee Titans 10
The Chiefs have to be pleased with their game overall. Their starters dominated, especially on the offensive side of the ball. Smith finished having completed 16 of 18 pass attempts for 171 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. Murray also played well despite an early interception, completing 15 of 20 passes for 146 yards with two touchdowns and the aforementioned interception. For the Titans, there was Mariota’s solid game, and it was also good to see Kendall Wright catch all three of the targets that went his way, putting up 60 yards in the process. This game was called early when a severe weather warning forced them to suspend play with under four minutes to go in the fourth.
Detroit Lions 22, Jacksonville Jaguars 17
Both the Lions and the Jaguars left their starting quarterbacks in the game for extended time and both played well. Matthew Stafford finished with 11 of 15 completions for 173 yards and two touchdowns, one to Golden Tate and one to Corey Fuller. Tate finished with three catches for 91 yards, with the long touchdown of 62 yards. Blake Bortles completed 20 of 29 passes for 245 yards and a touchdown, tossing one to Allen Hurns. Hurns finished with four catches for 42 yards, and Marcedes Lewis managed three catches for 51 yards.
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