Bill Belichick may be forced to get hilariously creative to fill his quarterback slot

Perhaps the universe had a more severe punishment in mind for the New England Patriots than what the NFL had in mind initially, when they brought the Deflategate shenanigans to a close by curbing Tom Brady for the first month of the 2016 campaign. Because after just 2.5 weeks of NFL football, the Patriots are limping towards the Week 5 return of their future Hall of Fame signal caller, albeit for none of the reasons that were predicted headed into the year.

The Patriots have opened up the year to the tune of a 3-0 record, despite Brady or All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski not yet appearing on the stat sheet (Gronk received only one target, an incompletion, in his 2016 debut on Thursday night). Yet the team first rallied behind backup QB Jimmy Garoppolo, who opened up the year by tossing four touchdowns and completing over 60% of his passes in victories over the Arizona Cardinals and Miami Dolphins.

Yet despite victory over the Dolphins, it was not Garoppolo who finished the game, as fate waved its hammer again at the Pats passing pocket again. Garoppolo sprained the AC joint in his throwing shoulder, and Bill Belichick was forced to look even further down his bench at third-stringer Jacoby Brissett. The rookie from North Carolina State did just enough to allow the Patriots to hold off a Miami comeback and to balance off a run heavy game plan against the Texans to keep pull the allow the Patriots to become the first —and most unlikely— 3-0 team on the year.

It would seem that Brissett's solid, not spectacular effort of connecting on 17 of 28 passes, while averaging just a shade under seven yards per completion and mixing in 12 runs for 60 yards would be good enough to bide the team's time into Brady's week 5 return. Yet in a sour reprise of the previous week's fate that met the QB position, it was announced on Friday morning that Brissett would now follow Garoppalo to the list of the wounded, rather than back behind center. The QB sprained his thumb on Thursday night, and while he was able to finish the game, he will be out of action for multiple weeks.

The Patriots enter their fourth game in potentially worst shape behind center than even the much-maligned Cleveland Browns. It has not been since 2008 that even three quarterbacks took snaps for Belichick, but down two injuries and a suspension, he's forced with potentially having to get creative until he gets his three-time Super Bowl champion signal-caller back in week 5.

There is hope that Garappolo could return by next Sunday, but with the perpetual Charlie Brown cloud following over anyone that inhabits the Patriots' QB depth chart, Belichick is faced with potentially having to get more creative than ever. And in a year where Sam Bradford has been traded for a first round pick, Mark Sanchez has twice been given backup jobs and both Case Keenum and Luke McCown have been refused to be dealt due to their 'value' as backups, the demand for anything resembling a quarterback is seemingly at an all-time high.

So perhaps the question is where 'do' the Pats go from here, rather it is where 'can' they go? They worked out both T.J. Yates and Sean Renfree last week, but passed on both. Brandon Weeden, Tavaris Jackson, Jimmy Clausen and even Michael Vick are among the notable names on the unemployment line, a far from savory list of options to put in front of the Buffalo Bills next Sunday. But at this point, the Patriots could reasonably be forced to consider them as not only acquisitions, but as one-week bookmark starters.

But perhaps the ever-innovative Belichick opts to go in another direction internally. With no quarterbacks currently on the team's practice squad and all of his options injured or inactive, the most experience quarterback under contract right now is none other than... Julian Edelman, from a certain perspective.

Granted, the year was 2008 and Edelman was guiding a four-win, MAC team where he threw 11 interceptions and ran the ball only 60 fewer times than he threw it, but at least there is some experience, right? Even Edelman's father has championed the idea today, in yet another true sign of the potential desperation that lies ahead.

Maybe Belichick gets down to giving a Jon Voight/"Friday Night Lights"-worthy sales pitch to Garappolo about getting back into the game regardless of injury, Lance Harbor style. Or maybe he's forced to pull on the unknown, and engineer a Mrs. Doubtfire-level shenanigan, and a previously unknown, but incredibly familiar option that moves and looks a lot like Tom Brady, but sports a much heavier beard than he has ever been witnessed with, makes an appearance instead... only to be injured and sequentially released in time for the true Tom to return the following week, who knows?

But regardless of it all, there is a really high chance that the Patriots will be forced to send a player under  center who has had less than a week of time with their playbook. And while the Bills have been slow to start the year, it could be the best shot that anybody gets at derailing the resilient Patriots in the early going.

And hey, if all else goes wrong, maybe Johnny Manziel would be willing to skip class for a week or so to do the honors? That would not be too far of reach in this situation, all things considered.