As I said the other day, one of the commandments of covering the NFL is, "Thou shall not read too much into a preseason game, either positively or negatively." You can extend that to, "Thou shall not go overboard about the third-string QB against the other team's scrubs, especially when the journeyman backup was even better against the opponent's backups." I'm telling you, that's written down somewhere.
With that out of the way, Jarrett Stidham had an impressive debut on Thursday night in the Patriots' 31-3 victory over the Lions. And if you're grading on a curve considering the college offenses (Baylor, Auburn) he's coming from — Bill Belichick has mentioned it a few times, as we have since he was drafted — Stidham's night (14 of 24, 59 percent, 179 yards, 1 TD and 95.7 rating) was downright spectacular.
But don't go sending the game ball to Canton — or even the Patriots Hall of Fame — quite yet.
Just remind yourself that Jimmy Garoppolo (from a similar college offensive system) was even better (9 of 13, 69.2 percent, 157 yards, 1 TD, 135.7 rating) in his debut throwing to the likes of Josh Boyce, Brian Tyms, Roy Finch and someone named Wilson Van Hooser.
That being said, Stidham showed a lot of promise against the Lions. And while he still has plenty to work on, especially a tad more air on deep passes, he was most impressive with the subtleties of the position, which are better indicators of future success than raw numbers.
A few of the plays that stood out:
- On the opening play of the second half, Stidham looked deep on his first read, then came back to his left and found Jakobi Meyers easily for 17 yards. That shows command of the playbook.
- On third-and-1 with 10:25 left in the third quarter, the Lions brought pressure (one of the rare times, they only blitzed 18 percent -- Patriots 44 percent) and it wasn't picked up. Stidham didn't try to be a hero and make a play. He calmly rolled out and threw the ball away.
- You wouldn't know he rarely played from under center in college. His footwork was great getting to his drops, handing the ball off and running the Patriots' important play-action game.
- The 17-yard pass to Braxton Berrios came with a defender bearing right down on him unblocked. Stidham stayed with the play, delivered the ball and then took the hit.
- And just overall, Stidham had quiet feet. He wasn't bouncing all over the place like a Nervous Nelly making his NFL debut. He didn't look out of his element. It certainly helped the Lions didn't send much pressure and played a lot of zone, but Stidham looked the part. It went with what we've seen at practice. He's certainly prone to rookie mistakes, but when Brady was benched for three plays in one practice, Stidham came in and make three great throws.