The Facts: HC Bill Belichick opened things up today with a reasonable revealing — for him — assessment of his quarterback situation. Of course, he's going to be without Brady for the first four games because of his DeflateGate suspension, but Belichick admitted what was already clear, that Jimmy Garoppolo had to get himself ready to start four games. "We had, finally, some definition with Tom's situation, so our priority now is to get Jimmy ready for the start of the season, for the Arizona game [Sept. 11]," Belichick said. "That will be, obviously, a comprehensive process. Tom will return as the starting quarterback when he comes back, but in the meantime, we have to prioritize the first part of our schedule and that will be to get Jimmy ready to go."

Diehards Line: So, as PFT's Darin Gantt wrote: "There you have it: Belichick eliminated the possibility of a quarterback controversy when Brady returns, and didn’t allude to a competition between Garoppolo and rookie Jacoby Brissett for the interim job. ..." While that seems obvious, Gantt correctly pointed out, it’s rare for Belichick to admit anything beyond the current condition.