As I documented yesterday, the New England Patriots opened up their preseason action last night as they took on the Washington Redskins.

Well, the game went very poorly for the Pats as they got shut down 23-6. They looked sluggish right out of the gate and, with the exception of a few players, they never really got anything going.

Fourth year, back up quarterback Ryan Mallett did not impress in the time he was out on the field. The projected second option for the Pats completed only five of his 12 pass attempts for just 55 yards. While the team is hoping they never have to turn to Mallett, once the season gets underway, they still want him to perform well so that they can at least be more comfortable with the idea of him under center.  Yesterday's performance is only one snapshot of what he can do though it wasn't a pretty one. He has been better in the past though so let's just hope last night was nothing more than an aberration.

One of the lone bright spots for New England was the play of rookie quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. The first year player who was selected in the third round in a bit of a surprising move came on for Mallett and really impressed a lot of people. Garoppolo went 9-13 for 153 yards. He also led the Pats to their only score of the game when he connected with long shot receiver Brian Tyms for a 26 yard score. His overall quarterback/passer rating for the game was 135.7. That put him far above Mallett's rating of 55.9.

So, while the game was really a wash for most Pats fans, we got a positive glimpse of the potential future with Garoppolo and we now have at least a reason to start turning the wheels on a potential number two quarterback battle for the rest of camp.

The Patriots next game is scheduled for this coming Friday, Aug. 15. They'll take on the Philadelphia Eagles at Gillette stadium. Until then, be sure to check out the full box score on ESPN.com and clips of the post game on Patriots.com.

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