Getty Images

Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is expected to miss Thursday night’s game with a shoulder injury, which means rookie Jacoby Brissett is the only healthy quarterback on the roster while Tom Brady is suspended.

And yet Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the Patriots do not plan on adding another quarterback.

That apparently means that Bill Belichick is comfortable with Brissett as the starter and receiver Julian Edelman, a college quarterback, as the backup.

If Brissett gets hurt during Thursday night’s game, the Patriots would be running some interesting plays: Edelman would struggle to run an NFL passing offense, and presumably the Patriots would have to adjust by running more of a college-style spread offense than what they run now.

Still, Edelman knows the Patriots’ offense well, and Belichick apparently thinks anyone the Patriots could bring in today would struggle to get up to speed well enough to run the offense any better than Edelman could on Thursday. So Brissett will start, Edelman will back him up, and those will be the Patriots’ only options.