New England Patriots' Jimmy Garoppolo clearly a work in progress

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- It would be hard to argue that Jimmy Garoppolo -- the first man not named Tom Brady to open a season as the New England Patriots' starting quarterback since 2001 - was good against the Saints in Thursday night's preseason opener at Gillette Stadium.

The question, though, is whether Garoppolo was good enough. Good enough to show progression in the summer working on what head coach Bill Belichick has called the team's "priority" to get the third-year former second-round pick ready to make his first career start on opening night in Arizona.

Garoppolo completed 11 of 18 passes for 168 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions in what ended up a 34-22 New England win thanks mostly to a defense that forced four turnovers and scored twice on its own.

"I don't want to try and make an evaluation without really looking at it," Belichick said in the immediate aftermath when asked to evaluate his fill-in starter.

At times Garoppolo found some rhythm in the passing attack, though the unit was without such key targets as Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola, Chris Hogan and pass-catching running back Dion Lewis. He had multiple completions to tight end Martellus Bennett and rookie receiver Malcolm Mitchell, who later left with a left elbow injury.

But other times Garoppolo reacted poorly to the pressure and showed suspect accuracy. His lack of interceptions was not for a lack of trying. He threw way too far inside on a sideline comeback route that guys like, say, Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson would feed on. Later, he threw flat-footed across the field into traffic in the red zone, a ball that had no right to not be intercepted.

"It was just a bad decision, can't make it and won't do it in the future," Garoppolo said of the latter play, which is only a learning experience if he truly doesn't do the same thing again.

Sacked twice, one in which he retreated backwards for a bigger loss than needed given the initial rush, Garoppolo did show the ability to take a hit. He also did a nice job standing in to make a throw on a 56-yard screen pass to James White.

The young quarterback's toughness is at least one area where Belichick feels pretty comfortable saying he knows what he has in Garoppolo.

"I think that's always been a strength of Jimmy. He's a tough kid," Belichick said. "He's, I think, responded well from those tests. I can't remember too many quarterbacks that got hit harder or more often than he did against Buffalo a couple years ago. I don't think that's an issue. He's been resilient and has good toughness."

The Buffalo game Belichick referenced is the 2014 season finale in which the rookie quarterback saw his most significant NFL action to date.

Now, Garoppolo is building to opening a season filling in for the suspended Brady rather than filling in for him while he rests to prepare for a postseason run.

Now, Garoppolo is working this summer through practices, intrasquad scrimmages, joint sessions and preseason action to be as prepared as possible on Sept. 11 in Arizona.

So far he's getting mixed grades on his performance and preparedness this summer.

But the confident young passer feels things are building appropriately at this point.

"I think we're going in the right direction. As an offense, as a team, we've got to take it one day at a time, one practice at a time and everything. We'll be where we want to be by the end of the preseason," Garoppolo concluded after the Saints game. "I think I'm working in the right direction. I said earlier this week, there's plenty of things I could work on, little things here and there. That's just part of being a quarterback. There are a lot of little things here and there and you want to be the best at your craft."