Two of the NFL's best quarterbacks will start in Thursday night's Week 3 preseason game between the New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers at Gillette Stadium.
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is making his preseason debut. He sat out the first two games as backup Brian Hoyer and rookie Jarrett Stidham split all of the QB reps.
This will be Brady's first game action since he led the Patriots to a Super Bowl LIII win over the Los Angeles Rams in February.
Panthers quarterback Cam Newton also will start. Carolina actually is the last team to beat the Patriots at Gillette Stadium in the regular season. The Panthers came to Foxboro in Week 4 of the 2017 season and beat the Pats 33-30.
The third preseason game typically is the one where the starters play for an extended period of time. It's a good opportunity to see how they've progressed as a unit over training camp and the first two weeks of the preseason. It's essentially a dress rehearsal for the regular season and a huge chance for players on the roster bubble to earn a job entering Week 1. Starters usually don't receive much playing time in the final preseason matchup.
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