Patriots starters not expected to play in preseason opener vs. Giants

BOSTON — If you were hoping to catch a quick glimpse of Patriots starters in game action Thursday night, you’ll have to wait another week. Quarterback Mac Jones and most of New England’s starters are expected to sit out the team’s preseason opener against the Giants at Gillette Stadium.

Starters usually play a series or two in the first preseason game, but that will not be the case for the Patriots, according to ESPN Boston’s Mike Reiss. The Giants, on the other hand, are expected to play their starters — or at least the healthy ones — to begin the game.

It may seem worrisome that Jones and New England’s offensive starters aren’t going to see the field Thursday since the team is in the process of adding some new offensive wrinkles in the playbook. The offense hasn’t really been all that great in camp, so you’d think they could use all the reps they can get ahead of the regular season.

But there are more opportunities coming up, with joint practices with both the Carolina Panthers and Las Vegas Raiders ahead of their preseason tilts in the coming weeks. Preseason game are very vanilla, while joint sessions are rather intense. The joint practices are usually a much better indicator of where a team is at in the process than a preseason game.

And with the New England offensive line struggling, maybe it’s not a bad idea to sit Jones out Thursday evening. Rookie quarterback Bailey Zappe should get plenty of run Thursday night, so at least fans focus on how the fourth-round pick looks in his first NFL (preseason) action. 

Tune in to Thursday’s Patriots-Giants preseason game on WBZ-TV — the flagship station of the New England Patriots! Pregame coverage begins at 6:30pm with Patriots GameDay, kickoff is set for just after 7pm, and after the game stay tuned to Patriots 5th Quarter!