End Chandler Jones was traded to the Cardinals during the offseason, and Arians has seen no sign of the curious behavior that may have helped speed Jones’ departure from New England, namely his freakish appearance at the Foxboro police station past year, presumably under the influence of some hallucinatory substance.
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Except the Patriots won’t have their best player.
Eagles 29, Browns 10: Carson Wentz had 278 yards passing and two touchdowns in a stellar National Football League debut, and Philadelphia beat Robert Griffin III and Cleveland. “Amped up”, Garoppolo said after a performance in which he was presented a game ball in the locker room in a scene that special teams captain Matthew Slater described as “sheer joy”.
Also of note, the Pats parted ways with Chandler Jones, their most prolific pass rusher and every down lineman, and will be replacing him with a bevy of options including returning starters Jabaal Sheard and Rob Ninkovich (who is also suspended for the first four games after testing positive for a banned substance) as well as free agent and former first round pick Chris Long and 4th round pick Trey Flowers.
Detroit’s Matt Prater redeemed himself for a fourth-quarter field goal miss by hitting a 43-yard kick with 8 seconds to give the Lions a 39-35 victory at Indianapolis.
Fitzgerald extended his NFL-record streak to 180 games with a catch on a grab on Arizona’s opening drive and kept snaring balls from Carson Palmer.
“We needed to get the defense off the field on third down”, Arians said.
He also said, “What I need to do is do my job as best I can and not worry about what everyone else thinks about what you’re getting paid”. They have a good system.
“It’s out of our control”, Belichick said of the prospect of being without Brady. They have a good organization.
In case you had forgotten (let’s hope he has), Palmer threw four interceptions in that loss to the Panthers in the NFC Championship Game.
“Expect the unexpected”, Arians said. And please, don’t listen to those in the media calling for a way-too-early quarterback controversy in New England.
The Patriots are pretty shorthanded for this one. Chandler Jones, acquired in a trade with New England in the offseason, will line up at outside linebacker. Rookie left guard Joe Thuney will be debuting against the Cardinals, while an ex-Cardinal, guard Jonathan Cooper, didn’t make the trip because of foot soreness and will have to wait for his first game in blue. Five plays later and Cardinals running back David Johnson scored a touchdown to close the lead to 17-14.
“You don’t ever want anybody to start feeling comfortable, start feeling bigger than they are just because a bunch of people are saying we’re picked to win the Super Bowl or whatever”, Mathis told Arizona Sports 98.7 FM’s Off the Edge with B-Train.
“Obviously, we would have loved to be able to get down and score a touchdown, but we weren’t able to do that”, Fitzgerald said.
The others are Tim Brown, Gale Sayers and Maurice Jones-Drew.
Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton was sacked a career-worst seven times, but threw for 366 yards and a touchdown to A.J. Green, who caught 12 passes for 180 yards. Just a bit later, the Dallas Cowboys open their season at home against the New York Giants, with Dak Prescott at quarterback and Ezekiel Elliott at running back, but facing a new refurbished defense, as a team favored by many to win the division. Is he ready for the role? Danny Amendola had three catches, including a 32-yarder.
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Yet there was Julian Edelman flashing his sly grin.
