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Ben Volin | On football

Jimmy Garoppolo is the ‘priority’ but Tom Brady is still The Man

Tom Brady was in complete command of the Patriots’ offense when he entered the game in the second quarter. Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Patriots president Jonathan Kraft doesn’t want his starting quarterback to be passive, easy-going, and totally selfless.

Apparently, Kraft would not have been pleased had Tom Brady told the Patriots he didn’t want to play against the Panthers on Friday night and that Jimmy Garoppolo deserved all the work.

“If you say, ‘Yeah, I want the week off,’ I don’t think he’s going to be a successful NFL quarterback,” Kraft said before the Patriots’ 19-17 preseason victory over the Panthers on Friday night. “When any football player, but especially your quarterback, starts to say, ‘I don’t need that,’ they shouldn’t be the leader of your team anymore.”

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So the Patriots don’t have to worry about Brady not being the leader of the Patriots. He sent a message to everyone at Bank of America Stadium that this is still his team, four-game suspension or no.

Brady doesn’t really need these preseason games. He looks sharp in camp, and nothing that occurred Friday night in Charlotte is going to translate to the field when Brady returns in October.

Yet Brady needed those four series Friday night, for his own psyche. Splitting reps with Garoppolo during training camp and sitting out the two exhibition games was killing him. Brady was ticked off that he didn’t play last week against the Bears, and was jumping out of his skin trying to get on the field Friday night.

“I think we’re incredibly lucky to have someone like that who, after 16 years in the league, has that kind of passion and desire,” Kraft said.

Brady was the first quarterback out of the tunnel during warm-ups, and the first Patriot out of the tunnel for introductions. And he included himself in the pregame coin toss for maybe the first time ever.

In a perfect world, Bill Belichick probably would rather have played Garoppolo the entire first half. Getting Garoppolo ready for Arizona is the “priority” of this preseason, as Belichick has stated several times, and the kid needs the work a lot more than Brady does.

But Friday night, the priority apparently was placating Brady’s ego and competitiveness. The two quarterbacks split the first half evenly Friday — Garoppolo took the first three series, Brady took the next four, then Garoppolo took his fourth series at the end of the second quarter.

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Announcing to the world that the Patriots are still his team was the first of several strong non-verbal messages Brady sent throughout Friday’s game.

The second message was that Brady is still light years ahead of Garoppolo. It’s unfair for Garoppolo to have to be compared with arguably the greatest quarterback of all time, but, to quote his coach, it is what it is.

The contrast between the offense under Brady and the offense under Garoppolo was jarring.

Coming off the bench as a sub for the first time since Mo Lewis knocked out Drew Bledsoe in 2001, Brady was quick and efficient, throwing a dart to Aaron Dobson for 37 yards and a gorgeous 33-yard touchdown to Chris Hogan. He stared daggers through AJ Derby when the tight end dropped a third-down pass. Brady was only 3 of 9 for 76 yards in his four series of work, but the message couldn’t have been clearer: Brady’s still The Man.

Garoppolo, however, took a big step back against the Panthers. He was hesitant in the pocket, didn’t have a good feel for the pass rush, and failed to do anything in the two-minute offense.

That intentional grounding penalty he took, in which he first backpedaled about 15 yards before chucking away the ball, was one of the worst plays you’ll see in the NFL. Garoppolo finished 9 of 15 for a measly 57 yards, and was lucky that the Panthers dropped an interception. (To be fair, Brady had an interception dropped, too.)

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The Panthers are one of the best teams in the NFL, so there’s no shame in playing poorly. But Patriots fans are a lot more nervous about those four Garoppolo games after Friday night’s performance.

The third message Brady sent Friday night was about his relationship with Garoppolo, now in its third season.

“The relationship with Jimmy I think is the same as it’s always been, which I think is the way it should be,” Kraft said. “Tom’s been trying to make him as good of an NFL quarterback as he can be.”

Not on Friday night he wasn’t.

The two players seemed to get along pretty well in training camp. And the relationship certainly appears to be professional. But Brady made it perfectly clear that he’s not here to be Garoppolo’s coach and mentor.

Brady didn’t know what to do with himself while watching the game from the bench in the first quarter. He jogged in place. He fiddled with a tablet. He played long toss with third-stringer Jacoby Brissett. He did resistance-band running with a trainer behind the bench. He listened in on the offensive line huddle.

The only thing he didn’t do was acknowledge Garoppolo.

Brady didn’t say anything to his backup when Garoppolo came off the field. Brady left Garoppolo and Josh McDaniels alone while the two dissected the still photos, with Brissett listening in. The only time Brady got anywhere near the quarterback huddle was to pull Brissett to play long toss.

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It’s possible that the coaches asked Brady to stay away. He’s not going to be on the sideline for the first four games and Garoppolo needs to figure this stuff out by himself.

At the same time, it probably wouldn’t have hurt anyone had Brady listened in on the coach-quarterback meetings on the sideline. Garoppolo did when McDaniels poured over the photos with Brady after his drives.

But Brady’s not here to mentor Garoppolo and help him take his job. Joe Montana had no interest in mentoring Steve Young, and Brett Favre had no interest in mentoring Aaron Rodgers, either. That’s how it goes at the quarterback position.

And Patriots fans should be OK with it. Brady’s going to be more driven than ever during his suspension and subsequent return. His maniacal competitiveness is what fuels him. That “mentor” label is wildly overrated. The coaches can mentor Garoppolo. Brady’s here to play.

Brady wants to be the Patriots’ quarterback, he wants to be the leader, and he’s not going to be passive about it. Jonathan Kraft is OK with that.


Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @BenVolin.