Martellus Bennett puts Jimmy G. on blast amid 2016 Patriots discussion originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
We’ll say this about Martellus Bennett: He calls it like he sees it
The retired tight end spent one full season with the New England Patriots in 2016, a dominant 14-2 campaign that ended in a Super Bowl LI victory over the Atlanta Falcons.
Bennett returned to the Patriots for two games in 2017 before retiring, but when he joined veteran safety Devin McCourty and his twin brother Jason on their “Double Coverage” podcast this week, the topic du jour was that 2016 season.
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At one point in Bennett’s stream-of-consciousness commentary on the 2016 Patriots, the colorful tight end put former backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in his crosshairs.
“Bro, we lost two games,” Bennett told the McCourtys. “One of them was because Jimmy Garoppolo was being a b—-. He decided not to play right before the game. Jacoby (Brissett) came out and played with a f—ed up thumb and played his heart out, but Jimmy was just being a b—- about it all.
“That’s why he … you can’t win with a b—- for a quarterback, first of all. That was the whole thing with him: He didn’t want to come out and do anything because his agent was trying to protect his body or some s— like that. Which, I can’t fault him for that. But like, you should have made that decision on Thursday. Now it’s Sunday.
“So anyways, he’s not going out there, so now Jacoby straps up and we lost to the Buffalo Bills. We shouldn’t have lost. It was just last-minute, trying to make adjustments for what Jacoby could do.”
Bennett doesn’t pull any punches, folks.
For context, he’s talking about the Patriots’ 16-0 loss to the Bills in Week 4 of that season. Garoppolo started in Weeks 1 and 2 while Tom Brady served his four-game suspension for Deflategate but suffered a shoulder injury during New England’s Week 2 win over the Miami Dolphins.
According to Bennett, the Patriots were hopeful Garoppolo could return in Week 4 after Brissett got the spot start in Week 3. But Brissett was forced to start against Buffalo instead, passing for just 205 yards with zero touchdowns in the shutout defeat.
It’s hard to tell if Bennett was actually upset with Garoppolo or just giving his former QB a hard time here. The answer probably lies somewhere in the middle, and considering the team won 14 of its next 15 games, we’re guessing there was no lingering animosity.
That said, injuries have become part of the narrative with Garoppolo, who has missed 24 games since joining the San Francisco 49ers in 2017. Check out Bennett’s entertaining interview with the McCourtys below, but be warned: There’s a whole lot of swearing.
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