'Fun' night for Jacoby Brissett in preseason finale

FOXBOROUGH — Don’t think about short-changing Jacoby Brissett.

Shorty after Thursday’s preseason finale against the Giants, he was asked about his touchdown throw against the Giants.

“There were four of them,” he replied with a smile.

The jab was good-natured, but well-earned. The third-string quarterback spent much of the summer sitting and watching Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo, but he had the chance to go wire-to-wire Thursday night against New York, and turned in one of the finest performances of his career. It was the preseason, and so much of the work came against the twos and threes, but still, the level of execution was impressive, as he ended up going 28-for-39 for 341 yards, with four (count em) touchdowns and one interception.

Brissett found Austin Carr and Devin Lucien, as well as Jacob and Cody Hollister for scores. He also added a rushing touchdown in the 40-38 loss to the Giants, a game that was far more dramatic than it had any right to be. And while this one will be recalled as a loss for the Patriots, it represented a high water mark for Brissett. In truth, it was the second-best in-game performance of his career, trailing only his regular-season win over the Texans on a short week last year.

Afterward, his teammates kept coming back to one word to describe their feelings for Brissett: proud.

“I loved it. I was so proud of him,” said D.J. Foster, a locker mate of the quarterback. "He put together some amazing drives out there. You just see the type of leader that he is and the type of quarterback and person that he is. It was great to go out there and compete with him.”

“Man, I love playing with Jacoby Brissett. He’s a guy who comes to work every day, and he’s a guy I respect a great deal,” said offensive lineman Ted Karras. “I’m really happy for him.”

“Jacoby was incredibly composed, in control and he didn’t get too frantic out there. He hit his check downs when he needed to and he was a good communicator,” Carr said. “You saw that on offense — he executed.”

Brissett is a competitor, but he’s also a happy-go-lucky type who knows he has to make the most of his chances. That’s why he knew he and his other backups had a rare opportunity on Thursday night.

“I can’t structure practice around me, so just going out there and when we do get reps and when we get an opportunity to go out there and practice, I just have to make the most of those opportunities,” Brissett shrugged. “[Thursday] was a good job of you seeing a lot of guys that don’t get as many reps but put in a lot of work after practice, before practice and throughout practice and making the most of those opportunities. It showed on the field today.”

In the end, it won’t make a lick of difference on the quarterback depth chart. But for one night, the North Carolina State earned the right to walk a little taller on the way out of Gillette Stadium.

“That was fun,” he said with a grin. “You know, you wish the results were different, but that was fun. That was a lot of fun.”