Former Eastern quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo made his NFL debut with the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football, when he finished 6-of-7 for 70 yards, including his first career touchdown pass against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Garoppolo replaced Tom Brady with 10:34 left in the fourth quarter after the three-time Super Bowl champion threw his second interception of the night that was returned 39 yards for a touchdown by Husain Abdullah.

Eastern’s all-time leading quarterback completed two passes in his first drive before throwing a 13-yard touchdown pass to Rob Gronkowski, with 7:25 left in the fourth quarter. Garoppolo played in the Patriots final two offensive possessions.

“It was one of those situations where you’ve got to be ready to go at all times,” Garoppolo said after the game. “ I’m a relief pitcher, pretty much, so that’s my job. Go out there and put plays together, that’s all you can do at that point in the game.”

The Patriots selected Garoppolo in the second round of the NFL Draft, 62nd overall He beat out Ryan Mallett in the preseason, as New England’s back up quarterback.

“Obviously, first time, there’s a bunch of learning experiences,” Garoppolo said. “It’s a good experience to get that out of the way.”

Eastern Kentucky head coach Dean Hood gave Garoppolo favorable comparisons to current NFL starters that he coached against when he was at Wake Forest.

“I’ve had the misfortune of having to defend (Jay) Cutler and Philip Rivers, a ton of them and this kid is in the same mold,” Hood said. “It doesn’t surprise me of anything that kid does good.”

Garoppolo capped off his record-breaking regular season last year with six passing touchdowns in Eastern’s 70-22 win at Tennessee-Martin on Nov. 23.

Jason Simpson, who is the Skyhawks head coach, and has seen Garoppolo during his four years with the Panthers remembers that game perfectly, but is now cheering for the former Eastern quarterback.

“I cheer for him everyday now after scoring 70 points against us last year,” Simpson said. “That’s great for the league. I think he’s a great kid. I’m proud for Eastern Illinois and proud for the OVC.

Although most coaches from the OVC are more than happy to see Garoppolo make his NFL debut instead of throwing passes against their teams, there is one coach who wishes that Garoppolo were still wearing a No. 10 jersey for Eastern.

First-year Eastern coach Kim Dameron said he wishes Garoppolo was still in Charleston.

“Obviously, you watch him and you long for him,” Dameron said. “You wish he was still here for one more year.”

Dameron said Garoppolo not only represented Eastern well Monday night, the quarterback put the FCS in a good light as well.

“I think it shows that there are good players in every level of competition in college football,” Dameron said. “The entirety of the FCS can look at him and say, ‘there’s our best player from last year in the country and he doesn’t take a back seat to anybody in the NFL.’”

Aldo Soto can  be reached at 581-2812 or asoto2@eiu.edu