“We started a very young player in Dennis Dixon”, reflected Arians, now the head coach in Arizona, where the Cardinals will play host to the Patriots in Sunday night’s regular-season opener. New England lost its best all-around defensive player last week when pass-rushing end Rob Ninkovich was suspended four games after testing positive for a banned substance.
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Star quarterback Tom Brady will not play for the Patriots, as he is serving a four-game suspension for his role in the 2014 “Deflategate” scandal. He played four seasons for the Pats after getting drafted in the first round. While the Patriots advanced to the AFC Championship Game last season, Arizona finished 13-3 and also came up one win short of the Super Bowl after losing to Carolina in the NFC title game.
This may be the last season this offensive unit is together though. Carson Palmer still has plenty left in the tank and Bruce Arians is a master at coming up with attacking game plans that can annoy Bill Belichick to no end. In the end, the home team has just too much firepower on both sides of the ball for the Patriots to overcome without Brady but do not be surprised if this turns into the opening act for a rematch in early February. The Patriots will throw to Edelman a lot to test them.
The main connections between the two teams is the result of an offseason trade.
RUNNING GAME: The Cardinals are expecting big things from second-year running back David Johnson, based on his play last season.
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The other former Cardinal on New England’s roster is defensive lineman Alan Branch. That starts on Sunday night with Jones’ old team, which has a first-time starter at quarterback and an offensive line that is in flux (to say the least). Johnson was the fourth player in National Football League history to top 500 yards rushing, 400 yards receiving, 500 yards in kickoff returns and 13 touchdowns. Patrick Peterson, Tyrann Mathieu and the other members of the Cards’ secondary do such a phenomenal job of keeping everything in front of them, though, that the Patriots’ chunk gains are bound to be all but nonexistent.
