The New England Patriots are not taking the Tom Brady suspension passively as they sign veteran quarterback Matt Flynn for a one-year deal, as reported by ESPN.

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The deal with Flynn was finalized on the same day the Patriots released young signal-caller Garrett Gilbert on Thursday. Flynn will be the primary backup of projected temporary starter Jimmy Garoppolo if ever the two-time NFL MVP will not be successful with his Deflategate appeal.

This transaction indicated New England's current preparations for the highly possible four-game absence of resident superstar Brady.

Patriots offensive coach Josh McDaniels told CSNNE's Mike Giardi that the team did not change any of their quarterback offensive schemes and philosophies even if they are not sure whether Brady will play for them in the opener or not.

"Hasn't changed anything for us," McDaniels said. "We're doing the same thing we would have always done. Our quarterbacks, the first two, are getting a lot of the same reps, splitting the same periods. So it's really business as usual for us."

Obviously, Garoppolo is not Brady and the Patriots cannot expect him to produce the same numbers that the four-time Super Bowl champion and three-time Super Bowl MVP can provide consistently, as per NBC Sports' Pro Football Talk.

McDaniels intimated that what the Patriots' are currently practicing in their offense are focused on allowing their QB's to make mistakes and then correcting and trimming them down as the new season approaches.

It means that the 23-year-old Garoppolo will be having a lot of minutes in the preseason so that he can have the time to adjust and get used to real games against real opponents before the season actually begins.

Brady was handed a four-game suspension by the league for allegedly being involved in underinflating game day footballs during the Patriots' 45-7 blowout win over the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship game, which later became known as the Deflategate Scandal.

The pressure of the deflated footballs are said to be not in accordance with NFL rules and are deemed to have given New England an undue advantage during that game.

The Patriots were also fined $1 million and two of their future draft picks were waived.

TagsNFL, NFL 2015, NFL news, NFL News 2015, NFL rumors, NFL Rumors 2015, new england patriots, tom brady, Josh McDaniels, Matt Flynn